Stranger In Their World
by Delta94
Summary: Somehow, I've managed to get into the Halo universe. Join me as I find action and adventure. Rated T for frequent strong language and violence.
1. It Begins

Stranger In Their World

Prologue

It Begins

"This does not look good," I muttered, as I watched the advancing Covenant forces through the scope of my SRS99 Sniper Rifle. How I loved the weapon. Experience had taught me that four shots to a Banshee would turn it into a flaming wreck (best attempted while it was over _enemy_ forces; that one time did not go well).

Ten Grunts, three Elites and a Hunter pair could be seen heading to the mining facility my team had to defend.

_'What to do?'_ I silently considered. I could attack at once. It would take a few seconds for them to notice where the shots were coming from and by that time I could have taken down the Elites and maybe some of the Grunts. Or I could wait until they were in sight of my team-mates and launch a joint attack on the aliens. It took only a second for me to decide.

_'Fuck it,'_ I thought and opened fire.

BOOM! One of the Elites fell to the ground, a gaping hole in his head.

BOOM! A second Elite fell to the ground, meeting the same fate as his friend.

BOOM! The final Elite fell to the ground, taking a part of his head off.

BOOM! My final shot hit one Grunt and passed though to hit one of the Elites' dropped plasma grenades.

Pausing to reload, I watched the explosion kill all but three of the grunts and damaging the back armour of the Hunters.

"KILLIONAIRE!" a voice bellowed. I was really regretting putting the volume up so high.

Yeah, I'm playing Halo Reach firefight, in case you hadn't noticed.

JUNE 2011

CO. FERMANAGH, NORTHERN IRELAND, EARTH

"Seriously dude, you have to stop doing that." That was one of my matchmaking team-mates.

"You're just mad that you don't have my awesome skills," I taunted.

"Skills, my ass! You got lucky shooting that grenade."

"And the three Elite headshots in a row don't mean anything, did they?"

"Yes, yes you're a Halo god, now can you two quit arguing and KILL THOSE FUCKING HUNTERS!" Another of my matchmaking team-mates.

I rolled my eyes, knowing only too well that they couldn't see me.

"Fine, I'll kill the-"

The screen went black.

Fucking power cuts.

Power cuts around here usually last for about a few hours so I decided to go out for a walk in the woods near my house to pass the time until I could get back to playing Halo. Some people might say I was a 'Halo addict.' I call those people, assholes.

I went to the kitchen and stuck my head I through the door.

"I'm off for a walk. I'll be back soon." I told my mother.

"OK, just don't take too long," she replied.

"I won't."

I went up to my bedroom, my very messy bedroom, and grabbed my denim jacket and a copy of the book Halo: The Fall of Reach before heading out the door. Minutes later I walked into the woods.

I made my way through the woods until I reached a small clearing. I'm not sure if you could call it a clearing or just an area with slightly less trees. Either way it worked as a place I could go when I wanted to be alone.

One of the trees had been chopped down a long time ago so I sat down on it to read.

Suddenly, a hand reached round my head and covered my mouth. I panicked and started swinging my arms around trying to get rid of my attacker but my strikes did nothing. Eventually, I fell unconscious.

UNKNOWN TIME

UNKNOWN LOCATION

This day was not going well for me. A power cut in the middle of my greatest Firefight game yet was bad enough but getting knocked out and kidnapped while out on a walk? Now it's... Well, maybe I'm going a bit too far. But still, today's been a pretty crappy day.

_'Wait a minute, I haven't even opened my eyes yet. Where the fuck am I?'_

Slowly I opened my eyes to a sight I'll never forget. I was lying flat on face on a glass floor. But that wasn't the important part. That was what I saw through the glass.

I was staring down at the surface of an alien planet. How did I know that it was an alien planet? Well, I couldn't see any familiar landmasses. Also, the fact that there were dozens of other space stations dotted throughout my field of vision might have a clue.

Just then I heard a sort of 'whoosh' sound behind me. I was so surprised at what I was looking at through the glass floor, I barely noticed the noise. I'm normally fairly alert to things around me so that should help you realise just how suprised I was. I mean, it's not every day you go out for a walk in a forest, get knocked out and wake up looking out a glass floor of a space station.

Oh, right. The noise. Turns out it was a door opening. The woman who walked it was distracted by something in her hand so she didn't see me until she nearly tripped over me.

"Who are you and what are you doing lying on my lab floor?" the woman asked. That shocked me out of my daze and I spun around onto my back until I was looking up at her.

She appeared to be fairly young, somewhere in her early 30s. She was attractive, in an older sort of way. Her hair was jet black coloured and her eyes were a grey/blue mixture. She looked oddly familiar, but I was fairly certain that I'd never seen her before.

I was lying there in shock. What was I meant to say. _'Hi, I was knocked out, kidnapped and dumped here. Nice to meet you.'_ I heard more footsteps from the door. Someone else was coming to see this woman.

"Doctor, I need to-" The voice cut off quickly as the speaker, a young girl around the age of 14 entered the room. Her hair was blood red and her eyes were an emerald green. Overall she looked quite ordinary, someone you might see while out shopping or something. Like the older woman she was also familiar. Again, I couldn't tell where I'd seen her before.

But, as I was about to find out, looks can be deceiving. The next thing I knew, she rushed towards me and leapt onto my back and pulled my head back sharply. It really hurt. For a moment I thought she was going to tear my head off.

I admit it did look bad. You go to speak with someone and you find that they're standing over a teenage boy who you're fairly sure shouldn't be there. It's only natural that you should feel threatened. But I thought that the whole 'Intruder! Attack!' thing was uncalled for.

Wait, it got worse. I then found out she was pressing a knife against my neck. Now I was really scared. The 'teenage girl leaping onto my back' thing I can deal with. Finding out that same teenage girl has a knife against your throat? That's something else entirely.

So I did the only thing that seemed reasonable at the time. I panicked. Well, I say panicked. What really happened was that I started firing questions out so fast that I left no time for them to be answered. Even in the state I was in I knew that moving too quickly while someone has a knife against your throat is a bad idea.

"What the fuck is going on? Who are you people? Where the fuck am I? What is this place? How did I-"

"Not another word out of you."

The girl's knife pressed a little harder against my neck. I think it might even have drew a little blood. That got me to shut up.

The older woman (the girl called her 'Doctor') intervened.

"Linda, get off the boy," she ordered.

The girl, Linda, immediately objected.

"Doctor Halsey, we don't know who he is or how he-"

"Linda," Halsey said firmly. "Now."

The knife left my neck and she got off me. She shot me a dark glare.

"I'm watching you," she said. "Any sudden moves..." She didn't need to finish her threat. Any sudden moves and I'd be lying on the ground with a knife stuck in me.

Doctor Halsey held out a hand to me to help me up off the floor. For a few seconds I just stared at it. Doctor Halsey. I felt like I'd been kicked in the face. Now I knew why they looked familiar.

Somehow, I'd ended up in the Halo universe.

I fainted.

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	2. A New Life

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 1: A New Life

**AN: Two chapters in two days. Don't expect that to happen too often.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Halo universe or any of it's characters.**

**Don't expect regular updates.**

UNKNOWN TIME

UNKNOWN LOCATION

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This day sucks. That was what I thought as I slowly regained consciousness for the second time that day. Once was enough in my eyes. Still, I'd just encountered two people I had previously thought were fictional. That was enough to put me out for a second time.

I opened my eyes and saw that I was lying on a bed in a hospital. At least I assumed it was a hospital. It looked overly clean and had a strong smell of disinfectant. And the walls! I'd never seen so much white paint in one place in my entire life. I had no idea why hospitals had the same colours everywhere you went. The machines around me also pointed towards the hospital theory.

For a moment I thought that what had happened had all been some crazy dream. That someone had found me unconscious in the woods and taken me to a hospital. Then someone walked into the room and I knew that it hadn't.

"Oh, you're awake," Doctor Halsey said. "How are you feeling?"

I tried to raise my arm but a surge of pain passed through me. I hissed in pain.

"Don't try to move too quickly," she warned me. "It's going to take some time for you to recover from your augmentations."

_'Too late for that warning you dumb bitch' _I thought in anger. Then I realise what she had said,

"Augmentations?" I asked weakly. It hurt to talk so I decided to stick to speaking in as few words as possible.

Halsey nodded. "I'm sorry we did this without your permission but we had no other options," she explained apologeticly. "Your DNA profiles weren't on record here and if ONI had learned of that they would have assumed you were an Insurrectionist and you would have been executed. You had the right genetic markers for augmentation, so we decided the best thing to do would augment you like this."

Despite this new knowledge I didn't feel any anger towards her. I was now more that human. Human +1 really. Well, in my current state I could actually be considered less than human. I mean, I couldn't even lift my arms without feeling a large amount of pain and even talking hurt. But my point is that once I recovered I would end up being a lot tougher than I was before. I would be like a...

Then it really sunk in. Augmentation. More than human. I was going to be a fucking SPARTAN-II. The greatest soldiers in the history of humanity and _I _was going to be one of them. I'm not embarrassed to say that I pissed myself in excitement.

"SPARTAN?" I asked. "Me?"

"Yes," Halsey confirmed. "Like I said, it was either this or let ONI execute you. I hope you're not too angry about this."

"Angry? Me?" I asked in disbelieve. "No way." Why would I be angry. I would be a motherfucking Spartan. The most bad-ass soldiers in the UNSC. And _I _would be one of them.

"That's good to know, but I really came here to top up your sedatives. You'll need plenty of rest to recover from your operations. I'll explain the whole thing to you once you've recovered. For now, good-night."

I didn't even object. The thought was still going through my head. I was going to be a Spartan. Me! A Spartan.

The next few days were like hell for me. I had all these new improvements to my body but I couldn't get out there an use them. But I accepted that I needed time to recover. I also found out the date.

April 2525. Harvest was probably being attacked right now and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. But I brushed it off, reminding myself that once I got the MJOLNIR armour me and the rest of the Spartans would get out there and make them regret the day they found humanity.

That thought actually disturbed me slightly. I was normally a non-violent person. I was pretty sure that killing someone (or something) wasn't in my nature. Hell, punching someone in the face wasn't even in my nature. That's why I had such a huge interest in video games. I could take out my frustrations in a way that didn't harm anyone. The fact that I was indifferent, no not indifferent, eager to kill something... Such a sudden change was strange to say the least.

I was so deep in my thoughts I failed to notice that someone had entered the room until they were standing right by my bed. It was Doctor Halsey. She had been the only person I had seen since I'd first woken up after my operations.

"Are you well enough to talk now?" she asked. It was plainly obvious to me that she wanted to know who I was and how I had arrived in her office those weeks ago. Yeah, weeks. I'd been in a medically induced coma to help me recover from the augmentations. I still got excited every time I thought about my situation. What Halo fan wouldn't?

"Yes, I am," I told her. "You want to know who I am and how I got here, right?"

"That would be a good place to start."

"Since you did save me from execution it only seems fair that I should tell you about myself. My name's Kevin Callaghan. This is where it sounds like I'm crazy. I think I'm from either the 21st century or a parallel universe."

I sighed. "I'm not actually sure how I got here. I had just went out for a walk and was attacked by someone. I was knocked out and then I woke up in your lab. Then you came in and found me lying on the ground."

I stopped talking there while I tried to think of a way to explain the next part. I mean, how the hell are you meant to tell someone that you know them only as a character in a video game. Not really something I thought I'd ever be telling anyone.

"If you think what I've just told you makes me crazy, then it's nothing compared to what comes next." Once again I stopped to gather my thoughts. This was going to be a big shock to her if she believed it.

"Where I'm from, you, the SPARTANs, the UNSC, they're all elements of a video game series."

She frowned. I was clear to me that she didn't believe a word of it. "I'm going to need some proof of this 'video game' comment you made."

I searched through all the Halo trivia I could remember, trying to think of something I could say to make her believe me. Then I knew what I had to tell her.

"In late 2524, you encountered Jacob Keyes, who you had last seen while searching for candidates for the SPARTAN-II Program. Shortly after that encounter, you learned that you were pregnant with his child." She looked at me in disbelief.

"I haven't told anyone that," she whispered, knocked off balance by the revelation. "I think I believe you now. And this explains how you knew about the SPARTAN program when you first woke up."

"So," I asked, "how close to completion is the MJOLNIR project." This also knocked her off guard.

"Not too long until it's finished, why?"

This was my chance to change history in this world. "You need to transfer all personnel and materials away from their current location, ASAP."

"Why should I do that?" She was clearly angry at my order. I'd forgotten that Halsey was not fond of having people order her around.

"Because If you don't, one of your Spartans _will _die."

"_You _are threatening _my_ Spartans? Right now I hold your life in my hands and I could easily-"

I needed to stop her there. "Contact with the colony of Harvest was lost recently, correct?"

She was taken back at my interruption. "Yes," she said warily.

I looked around to make sure no-one else was here. We were alone. "This information must stay between the two of us. The colony was attacked by a group of alien species called the Covenant. They're united in a belief that and ancient, and now extinct, alien race known as the Forerunners disappeared from this galaxy, becoming gods. They think that humanity is an insult to their gods and that we must be wiped from the galaxy."

This was going to be a massive revelation for her.

"If you don't move the program somewhere safe, then when the Covenant arrive at MJOLNIR's location later this year, Samuel _will _be killed."

She looked at me, shocked that I knew this much about her and the future events.

"I...I will see what I can do," she told me.

"Do more," I snapped. "For in the coming war, the Spartans will be the only thing standing between humanity and extinction."

"I need some time to think about what you've said." She started to leave the room before stopping and turning around. "Before I go I need to tell you about the augmentations."

She then went into a technical explanation of the augmentations. I paid very little attention to that. Yes, I had to know some of the details but in the end, it mattered very little to me. I was faster, stronger and could take more punishment than the average human and that's all I needed to know.

"We had to do some additional procedures on you though," she explained.

I suddenly paid direct attention to her.

"What kind of 'additional procedures'?" I asked.

"You don't have the years of training the other Spartans have so we implanted into your mind knowledge of all forms of armed and unarmed combat as well as the rules and regulations of the UNSC. We couldn't have you disobeying a direct order from a high ranking official. In a combat situation, your instincts will take over. You'll barely have to think about what to do."

"Is that all you have for me?" I asked. I was anxious to get out of the bed I'd been in for a few weeks.

It seemed like she could read my mind.

"If you're wondering when you can get out of bed and meet with the other Spartans, you can do it whenever you want, but take it easy. It will be some time until your body is used to it's new abilities." She paused for a moment and then handed me a folder. "I pulled some strings with some of my contacts in ONI. This is your new identity. Read it, learn its contents and then destroy the folder."

Then she turned and left the room. I starred at the folder in my hand. This was now me. I stared at the name on the front of it.

_'Kevin Callaghan is dead,' _I thought. _'Long live Spartan-094.'_

**Thanks to my first reviewer. I was just about to finish the chapter when I got the notification. Thanks for the encouragement.**

**Please review.**


	3. Meetings

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 2

Meetings

**AN: Name has been changed at the request of general MB. Sorry if the similar name annoyed you. Now on to the story!**

April 10th 2525

Unknown UNSC Medical Facility

I'd spent the next few days alone in the hospital room, studying Spartan-094's... no, _my _folder. Halsey had said that my memory would have improved greatly, but I didn't want to take any chances. It wasn't that I didn't trust her, just that I felt it was better to know the stuff and not need it than not know it and need it. Either way, that was how I found myself in that same room days later, still staring at the folder, trying to absorb all of the information in it as soon as possible. I also had to learn the names and numbers of the other Spartans. A lot to ask of one teenager, if you ask me.

My new identity, Spartan-094, had been born on Mars in 2509. _My_ parents had died when_ I_ was young and_ I_ had been placed in an orphanage where_ I_ had lived until 2517. _I_ had met all of the criteria for the SPARTAN-II Program and, unlike most of the candidates, was approached by Halsey herself. She offered _me_ a choice. Stay in the orphanage and achieve almost nothing or join the SPARTAN Program and make a difference. Guess which one _I_ chose. A few days later she had officially adopted _me_. The staff were happy to see me go,_ I_ had caused a lot of trouble in my time there. A lot better than the rest of the Spartans, who had been kidnapped and replaced with clones.

Once on Reach, _I_ was part of a small group of older candidates who were trained separately from the others. _We_ knew of them, but _we_ were intended to be a covert Spec Ops unit, so they had no knowledge of _us_. _I _was the only one of the group who survived the augmentation process.

I was just about finished with the file when the door opened again. I had been pacing all around the room while learning the file, stretching my legs after being cooped up in a bed for a few weeks. It was Halsey. I looked up at her for a moment, then went back to pacing around the room, still staring at the folder. At least, I was until she snatched it out of my hands.

"I'd say that you've had that file for long enough, _son,_" she said. I was confused by her words for about a tiny fraction of a second, before remembering that Halsey had adopted 094 as her son. That sort of mistake wouldn't be noticed by an average human, but the Spartans just might see that slip-up.

"So, _mother,_" I asked, "what is there for me to do today?"

"Simple," she replied. "It's time for you to meet your fellow Spartans. You all get to go on a little vacation together soon, to help you recover from your operations."

Then I remembered. In April 2525, the surviving Spartans were sent on the carrier _UNSC Atlas_. The source of the ODST's rivalry with the Spartans. John-117 would kill three ODSTs in a scuffle. That would cause a _lot _of trouble later on. I wouldn't be able to stop the fight, I knew that. But maybe I would be able to limit the effects.

"That's not a problem," I told her. "I'm actually looking forward to it."

"Really?" she asked. "And why is that?"

I waved her question away. "No reason you should worry about. Did you follow my advice about the MJOLNIR Project?" This was crucial. As I had seen in the games with the Master Chief, one Spartan could be all that is needed to turn the tide of the war.

"Against all logic, yes I did. The technicians will be arriving at Reach soon. The sudden move has put us behind schedule, but that's preferable to loosing a Spartan."

I smiled for the first time in weeks. "Good," I said. "Samuel had always been one of my favourite characters. It's nice to know that he'll get the chance to make a major difference in this war." I then turned to look at her. "So," I said, "time to meet my co-workers, right?"

"Yes," she replied, and tossed a bag to me. "Follow me."

I left the room for the first time since I'd been wheeled in unconscious after the augmentations. I followed her out of the hospital and towards a waiting Pelican. The pilot was leaning against the ship, smoking a cigarette. For a moment I was disgusted at the sight, I never had been fond of smokers. But then I thought _'Wait, this is the 26__th__ century. He'll just be able to get a cloned lung.' _I still needed to get used to society in this new world I had found myself in.

He saw us coming and crushed the butt on the ground. He then climbed into the cockpit and shut the door between linking the cockpit tp the passanger's compartment. _'Strong silent type?' _I considered quietly. _'I hope he's strong enough to survive the war.' _Unlikely, I knew that, but there was no harm in hoping.

The flight passed in relative silence. What was there to say? I briefly considered warning Halsey about any future events, before changing my mind. If I told her now, she might try to change the events straight away and that could lead to even more damage. Best for me to bide my time and warn her closer to the event itself before warning her. Anyway, the pilot would probably be able to hear any of our conversations. Best to have any _sensitive _talks where there were no prying eyes. Or open ears.

The flight lasted for a few hours. I spent most of that time looking out the rear opening of the ship, watching the scenery of Reach pass by. I'd seen some of it in _Halo: Reach_, but seeing it in a video game is nothing compared to seeing it for real. I'd never really cared much for trees and plants and other sort of things that environment nuts were so obsessed with saving, but this was another planet. I was curious. I also checked what was in the bag Halsey had given me. It held a dress uniform and a few other essentials that I would need on my trips around the galaxy.

_'I wonder what sort of animals there are on Reach.'_ I silently wondered. I'd felt a strange sense of enjoyment from killing the Moa in _Reach._ What else was out there?

Then we started to slow, and I knew that we were almost at our destination. Eventually the pilot landed the bird safely. I didn't doubt his piloting skills, I was sure Halsey wouldn't have gotten on the Pelican if he wasn't a good pilot. What I doubted was the ship itself. Pelicans in the games had a habit of crashing. I knew that Reach wasn't being attacked by the Covenant, and wouldn't be for another 27 years, but that still didn't do much to increase my confidence.

We stepped off the Pelican and headed towards a small cluster of buildings. I looked around and saw that this was a familiar area from the games. When the Covenant would arrive on Reach and start glassing the surrounding areas, this would look just like the _Reach _multiplayer level Highlands.

We were about 10 metres away when the ship started to take off. I shuddered. Halsey noticed this and smiled.

"Afraid of flying?" she asked.

"No," I said. "Afraid of the ship itself. Pelicans weren't the most reliable ships you would see in the games." I whispered that last part quietly. I didn't need anyone else to know about my true origins.

We kept quiet after that conversation, as she led me deep into the facility. It went under the ground for a few levels. I assumed this was to keep the Spartans out of sight of the rest of the military.

Eventually, we reached a door. From the sounds coming from behind it, I assumed it was the Spartan's barracks. Halsey turned to me and told me to wait outside while she went in and explained my appearance to the other Spartans.

Soon she called out for me to enter. I complied, and saw the Spartans for the first time. There was about 40 teenagers in the room, all varying in height, build and looks. But they all had something in common. They were all ready to spring into action at a word. That was something that I would have to learn in order to fit in as one of them.

"Spartans," Halsey said, "this is Kevin-094, your new team-mate. I'll leave you all to get acquainted." She turned to me and said, "Kevin, your bunk is down near the end of the barracks. Leave your bag there and get to know your fellow Spartans."

I saluted. "Yes, ma'am," I said and started to walk down to my bunk. I heard the door close behind her as she left.

As soon as I had put down my bag at my bunk, a hand gripped tightly around my arm. I looked at who it was and saw a familiar pair of emerald green eyes. Linda-058, expert sniper of the Spartans.

"Could I have a word _in private_?" she asked, although her tone of voice showed that it wasn't a request. It was a demand.

I knew it wasn't going to be a good idea to annoy my new family member so quickly, so I said to her, "That's not a problem." She let go of my arm and started walking towards the barracks door. I wisely followed. The other Spartans were whispering to each other as I passed. I didn't pay attention to what they were saying to each other. I was most likely the subject of their discussions, but they weren't talking _to _me so I kept quiet.

As soon as the barracks door closed, Linda spun around and grabbed me by the collar. I didn't struggle, I had expected some hostility from her, and she moved her head closer to mine.

"What the hell are _you _doing here?" she hissed. "You shouldn't even have been in Doctor Halsey's office that day. So why are you here?"

I raised my eyebrow (it's a lot easier to do that when you're a Spartan) in mock surprise.

"I assumed that Doctor Halsey had explained the situation to you all," I said calmly. Of course, that was just a mask. I was really scared shitless. I had all forms of combat implanted in my mind, but I didn't know the best ways to use them. Linda and the other Spartans had been training for combat since they were 6 years old. In a one-on-one fight, I wouldn't stand a chance.

"Don't give me that crap," she said. "I know there was no Spec Ops group of Spartans. We hacked into the ONI databases enough times to know if there was one or not."

This was not good. She wasn't buying the story, and I knew it. I had to think of something, fast!

"Everything that is stored electronically can be retrieved electronically," I said to her. "The details on the Spec Ops branch was never put onto computers because of that."

"Then explain your reactions when I found you in Doctor Halsey's lab," she snapped. "_Any _Spartan would have fought back."

I still had to think of something else.

"The Spec Ops group would have went on deep cover missions, so we would have had to practice making people believe we were completely harmless, if necessary," I told her. I smirked. "Guess it works on Spartans too."

She quietly glared at me for a few seconds longer. I had her. She had run out of arguments. I chose that moment to speak again.

"You should probably let go of me in case anyone comes by. We are, after all, in a 'compromising' position."

She looked down and say just how close she was to me. Our bodies were practically touching. If anyone had came around the corner at that time, they might have assumed that we were kissing each other passionately. Immediately she backed off. She turned her head away, but I think I caught her face turning as red as her hair. I smiled and smoothed my collar down. She probably wouldn't speak of what had just happened. It wouldn't be right for Spartans to appear to be in a relationship, even if they really weren't.

"I should probably get to know the rest of my team-mates, wouldn't you agree," I said. "It really wouldn't be fair for you to have me all to yourself." I couldn't see her face, but I assumed it went an even darker red. She stayed quiet.

"I'll take that as a no then," I said as I started to walk back to the barracks. Before I opened the door, I turned to look back at her and smiled. She didn't see me, she had suddenly gained a huge interest in the floor. This was proving to be easier that I thought it would be. I turned back to the door an prepared to get to know the rest of the Spartans.

**Anonymous Reviewer: Keyes never got married. Miranda Keyes is the daughter of Jacob Keyes and Catherine Halsey. Miranda kept her mother's name until she joined the UNSC Military when she took her father's name.**

**Please review. **


	4. ODSTs

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 3

ODSTs

**AN: Short chapter is short. There wasn't much I wanted to cover for this chapter anyway, so here it is.**

**On to the story!**

22nd April 2525

_UNSC Atlas_

Slipspace was strange. When you see a ship enter it in the games, it looks like a huge white circle appeared in front of the ship. I guess I had assumed that when looking out of a window on the ship, you'd just see pure white going out into the distance. Instead, it was black. If I hadn't been told we were in it, I would have assumed that we were just in a remote area of the universe.

I kept thinking about the day I met the rest of the Spartans. It had actually gone really well. You know, apart from the whole talk with Linda. I smiled as I thought about her reaction. _'Played her perfectly'_ It would be fun to mess around with her like that, although I really shouldn't make a habit of it. Best not to piss off someone who can easily knock me out. Or worse.

That was why I had spent most of my time in the _Atlas' _gym. I needed to get my skills up to the level of the other Spartans, or else I could end up holding my team back in a mission. I didn't want to think about the consequences of a Spartan team being held back for any reason.

The rest of the Spartans were more welcoming. I'd assumed that the Spartans were very introverted people, only really socialising with each other. I was technically new to them so I had expected being given the cold shoulder by them all. John-117 wasn't quite so warm, but he didn't grab be and demand to know where I had came from, so I guess that was a bonus.

I sighed and turned away from the view port I was staring out of. I had become distracted by the sight and turned to head back to the gym. I'd been working out for most of the day and had just stopped to have a brief break. When I entered, I saw that I wasn't the only one planning to keep my skills up to scratch. John was there as well.

_'Shit,'_ I thought. _'If he's here, then this is probably going to be the day of _that _fight.' _He looked at me as the door opened, before giving me a polite nod and returning to his workout. _'Man of few words, even at this age,' _I thought, before heading off to my own.

I had been back in the gym for about half an hour when the door opened and a group of ODSTs walked in. I decided not to get up straight away, planning to wait until they had approached John before stepping in.

It looked like I was correct. They went straight to John and started harassing him. I chose that moment to get up and head over.

"Come on, runt," one of the ODSTs sneered. "Let's see what you can do."

I walked straight up and said in a condensing tone "One teenager against four big, strong ODSTs. You should be ashamed of yourselves."

The one who had spoken turned to me and sneered, "What do you want kid? This is adult's business, get back to playing with your toys."

I smirked. "Sounds like you guys need to be taught a lesson. Four ODSTs against two teenagers. Terrible odds of you ask me." I turned to John. "Let's go easy on them."

For a moment I thought I saw a smile on his face. It was obvious that he was going to enjoy this fight. We turned and climbed into the sparring ring. I turned back to the ODSTs and smacked my hands against my chest and yelled "Come at me bro!" I have absolutely no idea why I did, but it worked to get them angry and they all walked towards the ring. I leaned closer to John and whispered to him, "We're a lot stronger than them, so try and hold back so we don't hurt them too badly." He nodded. I hadn't yet heard him speak. Just then the ODSTs climbed in to face us. All four of them. They were clearly overconfident about their chances of success. They split into two pairs, one headed for John while the other headed for me.

One of them swung a fist towards my face, putting as much force behind the punch as possible. At the last possible moment, I brought my hand up and grabbed the ODST's wrist. His fist stopped inches from my face. His face took on a look of horror. He hadn't expected this to be an actual fight. He clearly thought he would be able to beat a teenage boy in a two on one fight. I grinned. "My turn," I said. This was going to be fun. The other ODST who had headed for me took a swing at me. I pulled the ODST whose wrist I had grabbed into the path of the attack. It was too late for the attack to stop and the ODST ended up punching his friend in the side of the head. I released the ODST and turned to deal with his friend. He took another swing at me, this one I blocked. I stepped back, then rushed forward, and punched him in the stomach a few times, ending my assault on him with a flat palm strike to his chest. He collapsed on the ground, out of the fight. I was holding back, but that wasn't enough to avoid cracking a few ribs. I winced at the sound. I really hoped that I hadn't done too much damage. The first ODST was back on his feet and rushed towards me. He made another swing for my head. This time I dodged the strike, bending backwards to see the fist fly over my face. I righted myself and swung my leg around, knocking my last opponent off his feet. I placed my foot on his neck, but didn't press down.

I looked down at him and smiled. "Submit?" I asked him. I really didn't need to as him that. He nodded his head rapidly. I removed my foot and looked over towards John to see how he was dealing with the other ODSTs. He had one of them down and was just finishing off the other one when I looked at him. I knew they weren't dead, people who roll on the floor moaning in pain generally aren't. It looked like I'd stopped the situation from getting out of hand. I turned to John and smiled. "Looks like they've learned their lesson," I said. I looked at the clock in the gym. The whole fight had taken under 10 seconds. Even knowing I was a Spartan and was faster than an average human being it was surprising. I noted the time on the clock and turned back to John.

"How about we grab some lunch?" I asked him. He shook his head.

"No thanks, I should get back to my workout," he replied, the first thing he'd said to me.

I shrugged, saying "Suit yourself," and walked off to the mess hall. I left the ODSTs lying there. A medical crew would be along to help them shortly.

I reflected on what I had just done. The fight had gone ahead, I knew that it couldn't have been prevented. But had my interference caused more harm? The ODSTs had a strong sense of pride. That much was obvious when you consider their reaction to the knowledge that they were no longer the UNSC's elite soldiers. The ODSTs John and I had just beaten would never be able to live it down. Maybe in later years they would wish that we had killed them. I really didn't care what the ODSTs thought of the Spartan-II program. It would be easier for humanity if we could work together with no rivalry. But the rivalry hadn't stopped humanity from winning the war in the games. Hell, it might even have been _because _of that rivalry that humanity won the war. The ODSTs would have tried to outdo the Spartans and that _could_ have lead to a greater success rate during missions.

I'm over analysing it anyway. If it helps, then it helps. If it doesn't then it doesn't. Like I said, I really didn't care what the ODSTs thought about the Spartans.

I entered the mess hall and got some food to eat. Just as I sat down the door opened again and Linda walked in. She seemed to be looking for someone, it was when she walked over to me that I realised she was looking for me.

"Kevin," she said. "I need to talk to you for a moment, if that's OK with you."

I looked up at her, surprised for a moment. I had assumed that she was going to be angry with me for a lot longer. It was only just over a week since I had privately embarrassed her. I was starting to feel a little guilty about that.

"Sure," I told her. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I... it's about _that _discussion we had." I hadn't expected her to talk about that to anyone so quickly.

"What about it?" I asked. I really didn't see the need to discuss that. I had hoped that she would just forget about the incident and move on.

"I... Well... It's just..." She was stammering. What was making her so damn nervous?

"Come on," I gently prompted, "out with it."

"I wanted to apologise," she blurted out. I was confused. I hadn't expected her to _ever _apologise for that. I had been ready for a lifetime of suspicion and distrust from her. Instead, I get apology. Shows what I know.

"I was just confused," she continued. She wasn't stammering now that she'd actually apologised. "I hadn't expected to see you after the _incident _in Doctor Halsey's office. She looked down at the ground. It seemed as if she was unsure of what to say next. "I want to know I you can forgive me for that."

I was quiet for a few more seconds. This was completely unexpected. She waited for my response.

"If...if you can't," she quietly said, "I can-"

"No," I interrupted her. "I can forgive you for it. I just didn't expect an apology so quickly." She looked up at me, a relieved look on her face.

"So, were comrades?" she asked, extending a hand out for me to shake.

I held my hand out and gripped hers. "Comrades," I confirmed. "To the very end."

**Four chapters in four days. Can I go a week of constant updates?**

**Please review.**


	5. MJOLNIR

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 4

MJOLNIR

**AN: Slightly longer chapter to make up for the last one.**

**3rd July EDIT: Fixed a mistake I made with the number of Pelicans needed for the transportation of the SPARTAN-IIs.  
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1st January 2526

UNSC Military Wilderness Training Preserve, Reach

Quick recap of what happened since the fight with the ODSTs on the _Atlas_.

In September 2525, the Spartans trained in some military complex using the MJOLNIR Mark I armour. That was fun. The armour was bulky and outdated, but it _was _MJOLNIR. Even using a very crappy version of it was an entertaining experience.

The Spartan attempt to capture that rebel leader guy had gone off without any problems. Well, John-117 had been wounded in the attempt, but that happened in the books anyway so I didn't consider that to be a problem. Halsey wanted to send me on that mission because of my knowledge of this universe, but I explained to her that it wasn't part of the Halo series that I was familiar with. All I could do was warn her that John would be injured in the mission.

Whenever the team got back and news of John's injury spread among the Spartans, I pretended to be as concerned as the rest of them. It wasn't that I didn't like him, I had helped him with the ODSTs on the _Atlas_, more that I knew he would survive. There wouldn't have been much point in wasting my time worrying about him.

Chi Ceti was attacked in November 2525 but because Halsey had followed my advice and moved the MJOLNIR Project to Reach, there was minimal loss of life. There had been some UNSC ships there getting resupplied. I probably should have recommended that the base be destroyed once MJOLNIR was off it, but it was too late for that.

To celebrate New Year 2526, them military base we were stationed at held a new years party. I never really was one for parties, but the other Spartans took the chance to let their hair down. Which was why I found myself alone outside at night, staring up into the sky. My enhanced Spartan hearing (suck it, average humans) picked up the sound of someone walking towards me. I turned around to see who it was. Linda was walking towards me. Our friendship had improved greatly since our talk on the _Atlas, _as had my friendship with the rest of the Spartans. I had now been completely accepted as one of them and they treated me as if I had been with them since the beginning of the Program.

She sat down beside me. "So, what are you doing out here?" she asked me.

I waved a hand up to the sky. "Stargazing, really. Wondering if there's anything out there." The knowledge of the Covenant attacks still hadn't been revealed to the majority of UNSC forces, Spartans included. Halsey had told me of the Chi Ceti attack since I was so kind to save a Sam by stopping the Spartans from being there at the time of the attack.

She smiled. "What do you think? Is there anything out there?"

This was going to be tough. I knew the Covenant was out there, but how do I make it seem as if I'm just guessing.

"Well, the universe is so large that another planet supporting a sentient species is guaranteed to exist," I told her.

"And if they find us?" she asked. "How will they react?"

"How would any species react to learning that they're not alone in the universe?" I asked. "How can you predict our reaction, for example?"

A new voice spoke up. I must have been really distracted to miss hearing someone else coming closer. "Sorry to interrupt the philosophical discussion," Halsey said, "but I need to see all the Spartans together."

I climbed back up onto my feet and gave her my full attention. "What are we needed for?" I asked her.

Halsey smiled cryptically. "I have a _present_ for each of you. This is something you'll all enjoy." she said.

I had a feeling I knew what it was. It was a bit delayed, but the moment we receive our MJOLNIR armour was quickly approaching.

"What sort of _present_?" Linda asked.

Halsey smiled again. "You'll see soon enough." Then she turned around and started walking towards the base's hanger. Linda sighed, frustrated at the Doctor's cryptic response. We both followed her.

When we reached the hangers, we saw the rest of the Spartans standing around waiting for us. A quick head count showed that we were the last to arrive. Around the hangers were four Pelicans. It looked like this was going to be a long flight.

The rest of the Spartans were quietly talking to each other when we entered, but quickly shut up when they saw us.

"So," Halsey said, "it looks like everyone is here. Get on board the Pelicans. Two teams to a bird. We're going on a little trip."

Everyone went off to enter the Pelicans. I hadn't been assigned to a Spartan team, Halsey had told me that I would be helping whatever team needed me at the time, so I chose to travel with Doctor Halsey. As I entered the Pelican, I saw that Blue Team (John-117, Kelly-087, Frederic-104, Linda-058 and Samuel-034) was going to be travelling with us.

"So Doctor," John asked her, "what are we going to be given?"

She smiled again. "That would be ruining the surprise." I could easily guess what it was that we would be given, but it must have been intensely frustrating for the other Spartans. Halsey had rarely hidden things from them.

The flight passed mostly in silence. There really wasn't much to say. The other Spartans in the other Pelicans were no doubt trying to figure out what exactly they were getting from the Doctor. The Spartans of Blue Team weren't discussing this but I could tell that they were curious about what we were getting.

Eventually, the Pelican started to slow down. We were about to reach our gift. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited. This was, after all, MJOLNIR. The very thing that made the Spartans the almost unstoppable force they were in the games. And _I _was going to get my own suit of it. I'd known that I'd be getting one ever since I learned about my augmentations but it's one thing knowing that something will happen and another thing entirely to have it actually happening to you. It's not quite the sort of thing I'd be saying 'Fuck it' about.

Once we landed, everyone rushed out of the Pelicans, no doubt eager to see what Halsey was being so secretive about. I was one of the first out and was surprised at what I saw. The Pelicans had landed in a large valley with a small shack close to the cliff wall. It looked like there was nothing else for miles around.

"Doctor, I think we're at the wrong place," I told her as we climbed out of the Pelican.

"No," she replied, "this is the right place." she then turned to the rest of the Spartans, who were as confused as I was. "Alright everyone follow me," she called out, before heading over to the shack. We all followed. Some of the Spartans were discussing something with each other. I wasn't paying attention to what it was they were discussing, but I assumed that it was questions about what the hell was going on.

Halsey told us to wait outside the shack while she entered. Linda turned to me and asked "What do you think is going on?"

I thought for a moment before replying. "I think-" I started to say before being interrupted when the ground started shaking around us. If anyone who wasn't a Spartan was with us, they would have probably lost their footing and fallen on their ass. Probably would have been funny if one of the Spartans had fallen.

Just beside the shack, the cliff wall started to move backwards. The ground revealed by the retreating 'rock' was a covered in metal. Then the 'rock' started moving to the side, revealing to us the secrets hidden inside.

The fake rock wall finished moving to the side and the lights inside flashed on.

Doctor Halsey had since came out of the shack to join us. "Ladies and gentlemen," she announced, "this is Project MJOLNIR. The final step on your path to becoming true Spartans."

We all entered the hidden base. The rest of the Spartans were as surprised as I'd ever seen them. Most of them were wondering what MJOLNIR was. I was just so excited that I was finally getting the suit that helped the Spartans save humanity.

After we had all entered into the large hallway, the ground started shaking again as the rock that disguised the base slid back into place. We barely noticed it, eager to get to MJOLNIR.

After about 15 minutes walking through the hallways of the base, we came to a large open area. The room was filled with technicians making final checks on the armour as well as a large number of suits of armour.

MJOLNIR Mark IV. It was beautiful, more so than I had expected it to be. Visually, it was practically indistinguishable from the Mark VI suits. It was a bit bulkier but that was understandable since this was the earliest form of the Spartan's armour. Every one of them had a number on the chest piece of them. I looked around and saw mine, 094. Apart from the number it was exactly the same as the rest of the suits, but it seemed somewhat different to me. Probably the fact that it was mine.

"This, Spartans, is the fourth form of the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armour and the first to have the potential for practical field use. Earlier versions had to remain close to an energy generator, or else the armour would be useless. The Mark IV takes advantage of..." Halsey continued to talk about the armour and what made it so different from the earlier versions, but I barely paid attention to her. I was just staring at my armour and imagining myself wearing it and kicking some serious Covenant ass.

Eventually, I snapped back to reality when Halsey asked, "Do I have any volunteers to test out the armour?" Immediately, everyone's hands shot up into the air. But one was faster than all the others. Mine.

"Very well, Kevin, step forward," Halsey said. The crowd of Spartans parted before me, and I walked forward in a slight daze. I was going to be the first Spartan to use the MJOLNIR armour. Me! I reached the technicians and stood perfectly still while they assembled the armour around my body. Piece by piece I became encased in the suit. Eventually the lead technician handed me the helmet. I stared at the visor for a moment before placing the helmet on my head. Everything went dark for a few seconds before the visor activated and the HUD lit up. I saw everyone staring at me, waiting to see just what the armour was capable of.

"Spartan-094," Halsey told to me, "raise your right arm up to your chest."

I did that and saw my arm blur as it went from being at my side to being across my chest. That was with a Spartan's enhanced eyesight. To a non-Spartan, it would have seem as if my arm had simply vanished from my side and appeared across my chest.

The Spartans gasped in surprise. They hadn't expected the armour to be this fast. If anything, they would have thought that the armour would have slowed me down a lot. Even Halsey seemed surprised at the reaction speed.

"Now, 094, please complete the course while the others get into their armour," Halsey said, as the ground once again rumbled and one of the walls moved to the side, revealing an enormous course. I doubted that I would have been able to finish it without MJOLNIR.

The armour was incredible. My reaction speed had been greatly increased, I could jump higher and farther than before and my strength was incredible. Being given the augmentations was one thing, getting my hands on the armour for the first time was something else entirely. As soon as I had finished the course, the rest of the Spartans had just finished getting their armour on and immediately rushed to start the course.

Halsey then decided to speak to me. "What do you think?" she asked me quietly. "Anything like you expected?"

I took off my helmet before answering her. "If you weren't about twice my age, I'd ask you to marry me," I whispered to her. "It's incredible. The games never showed just what the armour was capable of. Hardware limitations and all that." I paused and thought for a moment. "Can I live in it?" I jokingly asked her.

She smiled, but this one wasn't like the ones she had on her face earlier. She had been teasing the Spartans about what she had for us, but now she was genuinely happy for us. MJOLNIR and the SPARTAN-II Program had been her life's work for nearly a decade. My overwhelming approval and the excitement of the rest of the Spartans was telling her that she hadn't wasted her time working on the armour.

I saw that most of the Spartans had finished the course and were heading over to Doctor Halsey, no doubt planning to congratulate her on the creation of the armour.

I smiled and turned away from her. "I'll leave you to your adoring fans," I joked. "Enjoy the attention." Then I stepped back to allow the other Spartans to speak with her. It was only then that the impact of my situation full sunk in. With the armour I was standing in, I was now a full Spartan.

I was ready to fight the Covenant.

**Five updates in five days. Can I reach my target of seven?**

**Please review.**


	6. Spartan IIIs

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 5

Spartan-IIIs

**AN: Extra long chapter for you today.  
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**Sixth update! One more to go until I reach my target.**

**EDIT: Decided to put in a specific date for this chpater to help it fit in better with the next one.  
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14th January 2531

ONI CASTLE Base, Reach

Six years. Six long years. That was how long I had been in this universe. Six years since I had seen my family and friends. I wouldn't be telling the whole truth if I said that I missed home. On one hand, I really wanted to see my family again, even just one last time. On the other hand, there were a lot of people who I wouldn't ever want to see again. I'd turned 21 here. An adult anywhere in the world if I could get home straight away.

Six years since the war had started. A few days after the MJOLNIR testing, the UNSC military forces were informed of the Covenant threat. This included the Spartans as well. It hit everyone hard, learning that not only were we not the only sentient species in the galaxy, but also that these newly discovered species wanted to destroy us all. Not exactly something you wouldn't have a problem learning about.

The UNSC was close to reclaiming Harvest, which meant that the events of _Halo Wars _was about to take place. If I didn't do anything, then three Spartans would end up MIA. Douglas-042, Jerome-092 and Alice-130. Red Team. I hadn't really been too friendly with them but that made no difference. Three Spartans with the potential to help change humanity's fate for the better lost, perhaps forever, if I didn't act.

Add in the fact that the SPARTAN-III Program would be started soon by Ackerson and this would not be an easy year for me.

Why is the SPARTAN-III Program so important? It would be based on Onyx. The knowledge of this location, when discovered by Halsey about 20 years from now, would lead her to take Kelly-087 with her to the planet, most of Blue Team would follow and, in the end, become trapped there. I hadn't actually read the book _Halo: Ghosts of Onyx_, but I knew that every Spartan would be needed for humanity to survive the war. Yeah, the book took place near the end of the war, but the last few months of the war that those Spartans would miss could lead to a greater amount of civilian casualties than if they stayed.

My first thought was to prevent the creation of the SPARTAN-III Program, but I brushed that thought aside immediately. The hundreds of Spartans created in that program would also be needed to save humanity. When I said every Spartan would be needed, I meant _every _Spartan, not just the Twos.

So how could I get the SPARTAN-III Program to go ahead, but avoid the loss of Spartans that would occur at Onyx. I needed to talk to someone about this. There was only one person I trusted with the details of my origins. Luckily, she was also the smartest person in the 26th century. So I went to see Doctor Halsey.

I wasn't alone when I arrived in her waiting room. Yes, waiting room. A lot of people wanted to speak with her almost every day. And every doctor needs a waiting room, right? Thankfully, there was only one person in the room and they certainly weren't going to be having an urgent meeting with the good doctor.

How was I so certain that she didn't need to see her? Well for starters she was a little girl. She looked like she was about five or six years old. As soon as I entered the room, she looked up from some work she was doing on one of the tables in the room and smiled at me.

"Hello," she said. "Are you here to see my mummy?"

Her mother. I was looking at a young Miranda Keyes, known at this time as Miranda Halsey.

"Yes," I told her. "Is she in a meeting with anyone?"

She shook her head. "No, but she is very busy. She might not have time to see you."

I smiled back at her. "I'm sure she's have some time for a quick meeting with me, little girl."

She pouted immediately. "I'm not a little girl," she complained, "My name is Miranda."

"Sorry, Miranda," I told her. "Now can you see if she has time for a quick meeting?"

"OK," she said, and turned to run into Doctor Halsey's office, before stopping.

"I almost forgot," she said. "I need to know your name before I ask if mummy can see you."

"My name's Kevin-094," I told her.

"094?" she said in a confused tone. "That's a funny name."

I nodded. "Yes," I said. "Yes it is."

She giggled at my response, and turned back to go into the Doctor's office.

She came out a few seconds later and told me, "Mummy has time for a quick meeting."

"Thank you," I said. And walked past her into the Doctor's office. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her return to the work she was doing when I had entered the room.

Halsey was sitting at her desk when I entered.

"So?" she asked, looking up from the papers of some classified project. "What do you need to talk to me about?"

I looked around nervously. I couldn't see any security cameras in her office, but that doesn't mean that there wasn't anyone looking or listening in.

"Are we alone? Can anyone see or hear whatever we say?" I asked, still casting my eyes around the room that I was in.

Halsey could see clearly that this conversation was for our ears only. And if was for our ears only, then it almost certainly to do with my origins. "No," she confirmed, "No-one can listen in on us here without my permission.

I relaxed. "Good, I need to warn you about some of the events due to happen this year."

She paid me her full attention. "What will happen?" she asked.

"If I don't do anything, then three Spartans will go MIA. Red Team."

"How will this happen?" she asked. Halsey clearly loved every Spartan as if they were her own children.

I explained to her the events of _Halo Wars,_ with Halsey listening intently to every word.

Once I finished she sighed. "That I quite the story. If you hadn't predicted my daughter and stopped the loss of Sam during the attack on Chi Ceti, then I would believe that you had gone completely insane."

"Sometimes I wonder if I haven't," I replied.

"So," she said, "in order to get Red Team back from this mission, all we need is an additional Slipspace drive for the _Spirit of Fire, _right?"

I nodded, "That's it. But we can't just put the extra drive on the ship, someone would get suspicious."

Halsey sat and thought quietly for a few moments, trying to think of how we were supposed to 'rescue' the Spartans.

Suddenly, she looked up, a strange look in her eye. She had a plan.

"What if we put a large amount of spare parts for the Slipspace drive onto the _Spirit_? Enough to build an entirely new Slipspace engine? Would that work?"

I thought for a moment, trying to consider everything that could go wrong with this plan. But I wasn't the brains, I was best described as the 'average intelligence muscle.'

What? You thought I was going to insult myself?

"Yes, that just might work," I said. "I haven't got any better plans anyway, so I guess we have no other choice."

"Good. I'll have you transferred to Red Team for this mission," she told me. "Hopefully, there won't be many major problems with the plan but I'd rather have you near, just in case something does happen."

"That's that settled," I said. "But there is one more thing that I need to discuss with you." I pause, not quite sure how to put this. I looked at her straight in they eye and told her "You might not like this."

I sighed. I didn't know how to explain it to her, so I just gave it to her straight.

"ONI wants to make a separate Spartan project, with no input from you."

She became angry almost immediately, not shouting because of her daughter in the next room.

"What do you mean by 'a separate Spartan project'?" she asked me.

"OK, I said, "let me refine what I just said. It's not ONI as a whole, it's just the plan on one James Ackerson. He plans to make a Spartan program that uses better technology, has more trainees and is cheaper."

She was practically blowing her top. "I have to put a stop to this," she said, standing up.

"No," I said, standing up to meet her. "The SPARTAN-III Program _must _go ahead. The Twos alone aren't enough to help humanity win the war."

"So why tell me about them?" she snapped.

"Because Ackerson wants to train them on the planet Onyx, and that world is incredibly dangerous. If he sets up the Spartan training facilities there, then a number of SPARTAN-IIs will become trapped. I'm going to need your help to persuade him to train them on Reach."

"What can I do to persuade him? Your knowledge of this universe and its occupants should be enough to get him to train them here."

"No, it won't," I told her. "It's going to take more than a few words to persuade Ackerson to move the Spartan training grounds. We need to give him something."

"And what exactly is this _something _that you want to give Ackerson? Even I know that man can't be bought off easily."

"Simple. If the SPARTAN-III Program goes ahead as planned, then the Threes will be given armour only slightly better quality than the ODST's armour. If you help him create his own version of MJOLNIR then-"

"No," she interrupted. "Out of the question. Not going to happen."

I was getting sick of this. Frustrated, I slammed my palm down on her desk.

"Listen to me," I hissed. "You clearly don't know what the greatest quality of humanity is. I'll tell you what it is. It is that most humans can get over their own self inflated ego and realise that when faced with extinction, just like the Covenant is threatening us with now, every goddamn alternative is preferable!" I was practically shouting at her at this point. For a few seconds we both stared straight into each others eyes, trying to get the other to back down.

Eventually, Halsey caved in.

"Fine, we'll do it your way. Ackerson will get his help for making his own form of MJOLNIR," she conceded bitterly.

I relaxed. "Good, the improvements to the SPARTAN-III's armour will go a long way in saving human lives. When can you get meeting with Ackerson?" I asked her.

Halsey thought for a moment. "Ackerson's part of ONI Section 3, it's hard to get into contact with anyone there. I have some contacts so they might be able to get a message to him."

"Can these contacts be trusted?" I asked her. "It would be best if as few people as possible know about the meeting."

"They can be trusted to get the message to him, I'm just unsure about if it will get to him unopened."

"Then we need to find a way that only he can open it." I thought for a moment before smiling. "And I just thought of the best way."

"What do you have planned?"

I explained to her about Ackerson's childhood, and how he created an imaginary key, the Key of Of Osanalan, to use in games with his brother.

"We give a riddle that only he can solve, so no-one else can get at the contents of the message. The answer to this riddle will unlock the message."

"And you're sure that only Ackerson will be able to open it?" she asked.

"Unless the message gets into his brother's hands, then only Ackerson will get at the contents. It's going to be safe."

"I hope you're right. If anyone learns that Ackerson and I want to meet with each other, they will become immediately suspicious."

"All we can hope for is that we get to meet with Ackerson before he proposes the Program to his superiors. If we don't, then the Program will be based on Onyx, and that is something that I would prefer not to happen. I'll go and prepare the message that we'll send, you work on preparing the software for encrypting the message." I turned to leave her office.

"Wait," she said. I stopped and turned to face her.

"What?" I asked her.

She paused for a moment, unsure of how to ask me what it was she wanted to know.

"You saw my daughter out there. What happens to her?"

This was going to be hard. How do you explain to someone that their child will die? Sure, in the games she died a hero, delaying the activation of the Halo Array and giving John-117 and the Arbiter (Thel 'Vadam) the time they needed to get to the Prophet of Truth. But even so, that knowledge could devastate her.

"Please," she begged, "she's my daughter. I deserve to know."

I sighed. "She grows up to become one of the greatest commanders of the UNSC. She sacrifices herself to give John-117 the time he needs to finally end the war with the Covenant."

Halsey was frightened by the news. "If you have the chance," she asked quietly, "will you be able to save her?"

"I'll try, but I can't make any promises."

"That's probably the best I can expect," she said. She seemed resigned to the fact that her daughter would be killed. "Just do what you can for her."

"I will," I promised her, then turned and left her office. As I moved towards the exit of Halsey's waiting room, Miranda looked up from her work, smiled and said, "Good-bye mister."

I turned to look at her and smiled back. It was a fake one. I knew how she would meet her end if I did nothing. How can you feel genuinely happy around someone who you know will die?

"Good-bye, Miranda." I said, and left the room.

**Now that Kevin has met Miranda as a child, will this effect the events of Halo 3 (when I get to them)?**

**Please review.**


	7. Red Team

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 6

Red Team

**AN: Done it! Seven chapters in seven days. I've been pushing myself hard to get these chapters out so I'm taking a few days off. Expect new chapters to be posted around the weekend.**

**3rd August EDIT: While sticking in locations for each of the chapters, I remembered that Reach had MAC platforms like Earth does in Halo 2, so I named this one after Reach's largest (and as far as I know only) city New Alexandria.  
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28th January 2531

Orbital Defence Platform _New Alexandria, _orbiting Reach

I collapsed onto my bed in the Spartan's quarters, still frustrated at the events of the meeting with Ackerson one week ago. Yes, he had agreed to move the SPARTAN-III Program to Reach, but I hadn't expected us to have to concede so much in the way of MJOLNIR technology. We had intended to only give him about half of the necessary data on the armour, but the stubborn bastard had demanded three quarters. Halsey had almost stormed out of the meeting at that point, but I persuaded her to accept Ackerson's demands. I had read about how much of a bastard Ackerson was, but that hadn't prepared me for actually meeting him.

_'Bastard,'_ I thought. _'I hope he dies the same way he did in the series.' _If there's anyone who should be tortured and killed by the Covenant, it's Ackerson. _'Maybe he should even be taken over by the Flood!' _Well, maybe that would be going too far. Not even the Covenant deserved that.

I lay there for a few hours, thinking about what was going to happen. Humanity's first encounter with the Flood. If the _Spirit of Fire _does make it back from that mission, how would this affect the time-line. Would the UNSC leaders decide that the military needed to know about the threat of the Flood? I really hoped not. It's only been six years since they learned of the existence of a number of alien races trying to kill us all. Learning of a parasitic organism that wants to absorb all life in the universe? That would be devastating to the soldier morale. Yes, the Flood wasn't exactly picky about what it infects but the fact that falling in battle against this thing would just add to the enemy's numbers wouldn't exactly be the easiest thing for them to learn. Watching your best friend die and the rise up against you would be something no-one should ever have to see.

Eventually, I was torn from my thoughts by the ringing of the ship's communication system. Someone was trying to get into contact with me. I walked over to the communication console. It was Doctor Halsey.

_'What does she want?' _I wondered as I accepted the call. _'I hope it's not to yell at me about the meeting with Ackerson. I explained to her why it was necessary to let him have the MJOLNIR data.'_

She was angry, but it wasn't about the meeting.

"Where the hell are you?" she practically shouted over the connection. "Red Team is going to arrive soon to collect you. You need to be in your armour before they get here!"

I had forgotten. Today was the day I was due to be transferred to Red Team.

"Sorry, Doctor," I said. "I was distracted."

"Just get to the technicians," she snapped, and ended the connection. I sighed, and packed the few possessions I had. A spare uniform and some toiletries were tossed into a bag before I left my quarters, heading for the MJOLNIR storage room.

The MJOLNIR storage room was halfway across the ship. This gave me time to think about Halsey's reaction. I did not need to have her angry with me. She could easily report me to ONI and I would soon be nothing more than a memory. Hopefully, if our plan to safe the _Spirit of Fire _succeeds, she'd calm down.

As soon as I entered the room, I found the technicians leaning on the walls. If I had to guess, they had probably been waiting about an hour for me to arrive.

"Took your time, didn't you?" the lead technician sneered.

I glared at him. "Just get my armour on, I don't have time for your bullshit," I snapped.

"But you had enough time to take the long way." I did not like this guy. Hopefully I wouldn't ever see him again.

I cracked my knuckles loudly, and smiled as the tech's expression changed from one of contempt to fear. Another benefit of being a Spartan. It didn't take much to get annoying bastards like this guy to shut up.

I was running late so the technicians rushed putting my armour on. Normally assembling MJOLNIR took half an hour. Because I was late though, the technicians had it on me in about ten minutes. As soon as it was completed, I snatched my bag from the floor and rushed out of the room, running down the hallways towards the hangers. Five minutes later, I arrived. Halsey was there in the hanger, waiting to see me off. It looked like she had calmed down slightly since the call.

"You got here just in time," she said. "Red Team's Pelican is about to land."

I looked out of the shield door that prevented the air in the hanger from being sucked into the vast black expanse of space and saw the Pelican heading towards the ship. This was the last chance I would get to speak with Doctor Halsey until after returning from the Flood-infested Shield World, if I ever did.

"Doctor," I said. "If I don't return from this mission-"

"Don't worry too much about me. I'll be fine. You'll get back safely. I know it."

"You don't want to know if humanity survives the war?" I asked.

"No, knowing either way would not help. If humanity survives, then great. If not, then we'll make the Covenant regret the day they found humanity."

Her apparent lack of caring about humanity's fate concerned me. This was Doctor Catherine Halsey, the woman who, despite the SPARTAN-IIs being the strongest soldiers in the UNSC and the only thing that stood between humanity and extinction, always regretted starting the program. This apparent change of personality worried me. Before I could ask her about this, the Pelican landed and the troop bay opened up, revealing my new team-mates. Halsey turned to me and said, "Good luck," before turning and walking off out of the hanger. I sighed, picked up my bag and climbed into the Pelican.

"Good to see you again, 094," Jerome-092 said as I sat down in the troop bay.

"Likewise, sir," I responded. He hadn't changed. Still the by-the-books soldier that Spartans were expected to be. I really didn't like squad leaders like him. I preferred the ones who would take the time to become friends with the soldiers under their command. Of course, we were all Spartans. We had a bond greater than those of normal soldiers, but that was different to being friends.

Alice-130 gave a light smack to the side of his helmet. "Lighten up, boss," she chirped. "We got another Spartan!" That was one thing the _Halo Wars_ never showed. The actual personalities of Red Team. Alice could be best described as the over-enthusiastic little sister. Not even the SPARTAN-II's intense training had been enough to batter it out of her. She'd was able to make anyone fighting alongside her cheerful, even if the battle was going to hell. That made her damn near impossible for her allies to hate. Fighting with her on your side was enough to keep anyone's morale from falling too far.

I smiled under my helmet. "Nice to see you too, Alice." Like I said, impossible to hate. I turned to the last member of the team, Douglas-042. "How's the war going for you, Dougie?" I could tell that he hated the nickname. This was mainly because I was the only one who used it. I still used it. It was still a fun hobby for me to annoy people. Douglas had a personality somewhere in between Jerome and Alice. He would take the time to joke around little during battles, but nowhere on the level of Alice.

He shrugged. "Could be better," he answered. "I heard that we're close to reclaiming Harvest, so that's got to be something to celebrate."

"Yes," Jerome said sarcastically. "Because retaking a practically destroyed planet is something to celebrate."

"It's got to be good for the civilian's morale though, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," Jerome said, "but it's the soldier's morale we need to keep up. If they lose that, we lose battles."

"You sound a bit angry, Jerome," I observed. "Anything happen?"

"You didn't hear?" Douglas asked. "Daisy died on Harvest not too long ago."

Daisy-023. Another Spartan down. She might have been the first now, because I had saved Sam from his death at Chi Ceti IV. I had found out that during training, Jerome had a possible romantic interest in her. Even with the implants the Spartans had that suppressed the hormones responsible for romantic interests, it would have hit Jerome hard.

We spent the rest of the flight in silence. What was there to say? A Spartan, a _friend _had died. It was hard for me to understand that. I had avoided getting too close to any of the Spartans, knowing that most of them would die had put me off any serious friendship with them. Eventually we arrived at the ship we would be stationed on, the _UNSC Belfast. _I knew that ship would be destroyed in the Battle of Arcadia. Thankfully Red Team would be fighting on the ground, and avoid destruction with the ship.

"Get to your quarters, then meet us on the bridge. The Captain wants to speak with the team," Jerome ordered.

I saluted. "Yes, sir." I said, and turned to walk away. I connected to the ship's network and downloaded the map of the ship to my HUD. On my way there I got many looks of awe from the crew. This early in the war, the existence of the SPARTAN-II Program hadn't been revealed to the majority of the UNSC military, so seeing a fully armoured Spartan was a frightening experience for most soldiers. I knew I'd get used to it eventually.

Once I arrived at my quarters, I tossed my bag containing my few possessions onto the bed and turned to head to the bridge to meet with the Captain. On my way to the bridge, I felt the now familiar shuddering of the ship that marked our entry into Slipspace. I arrived at the bridge just after the rest of Red Team, who had put their own bags in their own quarters. The Captain was a man who appeared to be in his early 50s. His dirty brown hair had some streaks of grey in it, no doubt cause by the war. My helmet's Friend or Foe tagging system identified him as Captain Gary Dixon.

He looked up as we entered the bridge. "Spartans," he muttered. "I'd heard some of the soldiers spreading rumours of some sort of super-soldiers, but I never really believed them." He spoke with a strong English accent, meaning he was either from England or a planet with a large population originally from there. He spoke a up letting us know that we were headed to Arcadia, before dismissing us.

Alice stretch and said, "Well, this is going to be a long journey. I'm off down to the cryo-bay. Anyone else interested?"

Jerome and Douglas decided they would head there for a quick cryo nap. I declined. "I've always hated cryo. I'll just stay out and get some extra training in."

Alice smiled and said, "Suit yourself." and the rest of the team turned to head to the cryo bay. I returned to my quarters and removed my armour. I was a lot easier to get the tech's to put it on or take it off, but I preferred doing it myself. I fell back onto my bed to take a quick rest.

This was going to be a long mission.

**Expect any future chapters to be a bit longer as I'm starting to get into the events of the games.**

**Please review.**


	8. Dropping In

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 7

Dropping In

**AN: And I'm back. From now on, I'll probably be updating ever two days, but that doesn't rule out a brief daily update schedule.**

9th February 2531

UNSC _Belfast, _orbiting Arcadia_  
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This deployment was proving to be incredibly boring. It would have been a lot worse for the rest of the soldiers on board though. At least _I _knew that something was going to happen. Although I didn't know _when_ the battle would happen, I knew it was coming, and that allowed me to prepare for the upcoming fight. This was actually going to be the first time I would be fighting the Covenant in a major engagement. Up until this point, I had only been deployed to help other Spartan teams to help in covert operations, mainly against the Insurrectionists. That had bothered me at first. These were human beings I was killing. They had families, friends people who would care if they were killed. But then I saw something that turned me against them completely. On one mission to infiltrate an Insurrectionist stronghold, they detected that we had broken in. We had to fight our way out and on our way I saw Insurrectionist soldiers using _children _as human shields. The Spartans aim was good however so we didn't hit any of them, but the whole situation disturbed me. What kind of people can claim they fight for freedom, and then use _children_ as shields?

Oh, right. Preparing for the battle. Anyway, that was how I had found myself down in the firing range, keeping my skills sharp. It had started as a way for me to make the Spartans believe that I was one of them back after my augmentations. Now it was more of a habit. I couldn't go without using my skills in any way (either during a mission or practising for an upcoming mission) at least once a day. I'd tried going a few days without training, but I was so incredibly bored within minutes that I was practically running down to the gym or firing range. Ironic, isn't it? I've been transported to a universe that I thought was just made up for a game and I'm bored unless I'm doing something I would have actively tried to avoid back home.

Home. For a moment I stopped to think about what was happening back there. I was lost in my thoughts for a very long time. Or, I would have, if the ship's alarm hadn't started screaming. The captain's voice came on over the ship's intercom.

"Covenant ships have been detected entering the system! Repeat, Covenant ships have entered the system. All hands to battle stations!"

Seconds later, my short range communicator alerted me to an incoming transmission. It was Jerome.

"Spartan, get into your armour and get to the bridge. Double time!"

"On my way, sir," I responded. I rushed to the MJOLNIR storage bay at top speed. For me, that was about 40 miles an hour. Not as fast as some of the other Spartans, I know but it was still pretty fast. As soon as I got there, I saw the rest of Red Team was already there and the techs had started to assemble the armour around them. The last group rushed to start putting my armour on. As we were going to be facing the Covenant, they didn't go too fast, but we still had it on faster than normal. 20 minutes. Definitely a new record for getting into MJOLNIR in a combat situation. For the techs anyway. They probably were worried about making a mistake and indirectly causing the death of a Spartan.

Once the armour was on, we snatched up our weapons. Jerome chose a Spartan Laser. Even though the war was only a few years in and the weapon was still unrefined, the Spartan Laser was still a massively destructive weapon. He also picked up a few more power cells for it, ensuring that he wasn't likely going to run out of ammo quickly.

Douglas chose a special Spartan rocket launcher. This one had _four _barrels. Twice the destruction before reloading than you were allowed to have in the games. As a SPARTAN-II, he could carry a lot more spare ammo than a regular marine or ODST. I counted four spare magazines for the thing, giving him a total of twenty rockets. Watching that in action against the aliens was going to be fun.

Alice grabbed a machine gun turret, sort of like the ones you can tear off the stands in the games. She grabbed a large backpack, sort of like the one Jorge-052 used in _Halo: Reach, _with the ammo belt running from the backpack to the turret. I couldn't begin to guess how many bullets were packed into the thing. It was probably in the tens of thousands. She was going to tear through the Covie bastards like the were paper.

I headed straight for my preferred weapon, both in the games and in this reality. The BR55 Battle Rifle. It was still an experimental weapon, intended for the best sharpshooters in the UNSC. As a SPARTAN-II, I was among them. I grabbed ten extra magazines, giving me 396 bullets. 132 three-round bursts. It was going to be fun using them all. Every one of us grabbed two M7 Caseless SMGs for secondary weapons.

As soon as we were in the armour and had our weapons, we rushed out to get to the bridge. I heard the lead tech shout "Give 'em hell!" as we left. He really didn't need to say it. We're Spartans. It's our job to give hell to the Covenant.

As soon as we reached the bridge, the whole ship shook. We were taking fire from the Covenant ships. I knew that the _Halo Wars _Arbiter was on one of the ships. I really hated that one. In one of my more bored moments back home, I learnt that he had attempted to take control of his clan in a violent 'revolution'. So much for the Elites' sense of honour. The captain turned to us and said, "Spartans, get down to the drop pod room. You're heading down with the ODSTs to assist in the evac of civilians from Pirth City. Get moving!" He didn't need to tell us twice. As soon as he had finished talking, we were already halfway to the door. It didn't take long for us to reach the drop pod room. Four SPARTAN-II supersoldiers in full MJOLNIR Mark IV battle armour? Only took about five minutes to get there. Along the way, the ship took even more damage from Covenant guns. I wasn't too worried. Yes, the _UNSC Belfast _would be destroyed in the battle, but as Red Team was fighting on the ground when the _Spirit of Fire _arrived, we would be off the ship when it went down. That didn't make me feel much better though. When the ship would be destroyed, anyone still on it wouldn't have a chance. I don't know how many of the crew get off it, but I wasn't expecting too high of a number.

When we arrived at the drop pod room, we were just in time to hear the end of the ODSTs pre-drop rituals.

"How do we go down Helljumpers?" the ODSTs commander asked.

"Feet first into Hell!" the troopers bellowed in reply.

"Damn right! Now get to your pods." He turned and spotted Red Team. I would have been an intimidating sight. Four fully armed SPARTAN-II supersoldiers staring right at you. He really didn't know what to expect. He quickly recovered though. An entire planet of civilians was depending on us.

"You four, get to the pods at the end. We're dropping in to assist the evac. Move!" he ordered. No need to tell us twice. Before he was even finished we were headed to the pods that had been set aside for us. It was obvious which ones were ours. It's hard to fit a seven-foot tall Spartan into a regular ODST's pod. The four at the end were larger than the rest to accommodate our large frames.

This was going to be my first drop down to a planet. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I considered asking for advice on the drop, but decided against it. As a SPARTAN-II, I was meant to inspire confidence in my allies on the battlefield. Admitting that I was a bit nervous about the upcoming drop would have the exact opposite effect. I remembered the starting cutscene from _Halo 3: ODST._ Was this going to be any different to what I saw there? I assumed that the view might be, but I didn't know how I'd react. I just hoped that I wouldn't scream in terror. I never was too good with heights. I felt a bit nervous looking down from a third floor window. This was a much greater height. I rolled my eyes at this thought. _'Obvious thought is obvious,' _I thought. I looked down at the planet I was about to plunge down to and felt bit sick. It's one thing seeing a height like this in game, but another thing completely to see it in real life. I had barely prepared myself for the coming drop when the pod started moving. Looking out the windows of the pod, I saw the rest of the pods do the same.

The countdown started. I could hear the ODST's chattering over the pods communications systems stop as we were moved into position. Just then a com channel was opened to me by the rest of Red Team.

"Any idea why the Covenant have come here?" Alice asked.

"We won't find out way up here," I responded. I had a sudden feeling of deja vu. A similar exchange had happened in _ODST _between Buck and Dare. Was I going to end up quoting parts of the games over the course of this war? Before I had the chance to think about that any further, the countdown ended, and our little pods were dropped out of the ship towards the surface of Arcadia.

The drop was incredible. It's hard to explain the feelings I had on my way down. It was like being a god looking down on a world and then shrinking to the size of the inhabitants to walk among them. That was something like my thoughts on the way down to the planet. My musings were rudely interrupted when a shock-wave buffeted my pod. I looked up to see what I had dreaded happening. The _Belfast _was hit by a large number of Covenant plasma torpedoes. The ship's infrastructure couldn't take the strain any longer, and began to fall apart. It was a sad sight. I didn't know what battles the ship had been in, the horrors of war that its crew had seen, but I knew it wouldn't see another one. Its crew wouldn't either. There was no way they could have survived that. I could only hope that the captain had ordered a evacuation of the ship before it went. We would need every last soldier in the fight against the Covenant.

Another shaking of my pod drew me back into the real world. We were under fire! Seraph fighters were firing on the ODST's pods. Looking out of the pod's windows, I saw a few pods shot out of the sky. I really hoped they were ODSTs in them. Not so sound like I didn't care about human life, but in the end, a single SPARTAN-II was more valuable to the war than a platoon of ODSTs.

Apparently, Jerome shared my concerns. "Red Team, what is your status?" He sounded desperate. I didn't blame him. The loss of Daisy-023 was terrible. To loose more Spartans so soon, and in a way that we were defenceless would be much worse.

"Red-Two, reporting in," Douglas said over the com channel.

"Red-Three. I'm here," Alice chirped. That was good to know. A Spartan team with good morale is an effective Spartan team.

"Red-Four here," I reported in, using my (temporary) callsign. "You're not getting rid of me that easily," I joked. It goes without saying that he was relieved. I could hear him sigh with relief over the helmet radio.

We broke through the atmosphere of the planet and the Seraphs broke off to harass more UNSC forces headed to the ground. "How many did we lose?" I heard one of the ODSTs ask over the pod's com systems.

"Already too many," came the reply. I made a quick check of the pods falling with us. Out of the forty ODSTs we had dropped with, ten were gone. We weren't out of danger yet though. Just as I finished checking who was still falling with us, another ODST was killed.

"Banshees!" one of the remaining ODSTs cried out. "We're fucked now!" I had to agree partially with him. A lot of ODSTs weren't going to reach the surface alive, maybe even a Spartan or two if they got lucky, but as long as there was one soldier alive, we stood a chance. And it wasn't going to be long until we reached the city. I estimated that we only had a few minutes of falling time left before we hit the ground. But was that going to be enough time?

I didn't get much further thinking about it than that, as one of the Banshees turned its sights on me. _'Oh, fuckberries,' _I thought, borrowing a line from Red vs. Blue. My pod was able to take the brunt of the plasma shots fired at me, but that was enough to knock me off course. My pod started tumbling through the air. I could hear the rest of Red Team trying to get in contact with me, but I didn't pay attention to them.

The Rookie in _ODST _had survived a fall like this that only had a 0.01% chance of survival. As a Spartan, I probably had a better chance of survival, but it wasn't going to be better by too much. I guessed that, at best, I had a 10% chance of survival. Things did not look good for me.

Suddenly, my pod smashed into one of the skyscrapers. The impact made my head jerk forward and smack off the door of the pod. My helmet absorbed most of the impact, but it was enough to make me loose consciousness. The last thing I heard before everything went black was Alice screaming my name over the coms.

**Bam! Cliffhanger. This chapter's out a bit later than I wanted it to be, but still in my weekend update target.**

**Please review.**


	9. Evac

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 8

Evac

**AN: My first big battle scene. I hope it went well.**

Pirth City, Arcadia**  
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Well, this mission could have gotten off to a better start. That was what I thought as I regained consciousness. I had a splitting headache and my shoulder was in a _lot _of pain. My guess was that it was dislocated. There was a small crack in my visor from when I hit my head off the pod door, but apart from that, my armour was in perfect condition.

Which brings me to where I was. I had no idea. The door of my pod was smashed against some concrete, or whatever they use in this world. That meant that all I had was the lovely view of grey with some dark cracks in it. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

That was sarcasm if you hadn't noticed.

Anyway, it goes without saying that I was in a bad position. My pod could be smashed against the ground, or it could be wedged into a building high above the city streets. If it was the second one, then I was going to have an even worse day. Even in MJOLNIR, I doubted that I would be able to survive a fall from one of the skyscrapers. The first thing I needed to do was get in contact with my team-mates. I activated my helmet radio and tried to contact Red Team.

"This is Red Four. Can you hear me Spartans?" I asked over Red Team's personal channel.

"Red Four, this is Red Two," Douglas answered. "What is your status?"

"I'm alive, I have that much going for me. I think my shoulder's dislocated though. Have I missed too much?"

"No, it's only been 10 minutes since the drop." There was a momentary pause. "I've got your location, I'll be along shortly to assist you. Red Two, out."

I sat back to wait for Douglas' arrival. Well. I didn't exactly _sit_, but you get the point. I was so bored for the time. Seriously, there isn't much you can do while trapped in a drop pod with a dislocated shoulder. Looking back on it, this mission kind of sucked. 10 minutes in and I'm injured. Not a life threatening injury, but any injury sucks. I wasn't quite sure how long I waited there. My armour's internal clock had been damaged in the crash. Even so, I wasn't complaining. This _was _in the middle of a battlefield, it would have taken some time to reach me considering the fact that there were enemies around every corner. Even so, waiting so long was annoying. With a Spartan's increased reaction time, periods of inactivity seemed to stretch out for ages.

Anyway, eventually Douglas reached me and managed to flip the flip the pod to face the sky. At least that proved that I wasn't halfway up a skyscraper. That would have sucked. I'm sure a damaged pod would still have been able to protect me from the worst of the impact, but I didn't want to risk it with a dislocated shoulder.

I activated the small charges that blew the door off the pod and climbed out, careful not to put any pressure on my shoulder. Douglas walked up to me and said, "Hold still." He then reached up to my shoulder and shoved it back into place.

"Thanks," I said to him as I gently rotated my shoulder. My arm would be fine for the course of the battle, but as soon as it was over, I would need to get to a medic. I reached back into the pod and pulled out my Battle Rifle.

"Lets get to work," I said, and we started moving out. Douglas got onto his helmet radio and informed the rest of Red Team that I had been recovered. Jerome then contacted me on my radio.

"Red Four, there are three cargo containers being used to evac civilians out of the city. The rest of Red Team has been tasked with defending one transport each. You are to head to the subway exit and defend the civilians entering the city from Covenant attacks. Confirm?"

"Confirm, Red One. I'm on my way." I turned to Douglas and said "Good luck out there."

"You too Four. You too," he replied, and sprinted out into the battle. I turned to face the cargo container that Alice had been tasked with defending. Cargo #3. If I remembered the level from _Halo Wars _right, this cargo container would be destroyed when it attempted to take off early. Everyone on board the ship would be killed in the explosion. Everyone. Civilians and any UNSC forces on it. I _had _to stop it. Whenever it tries to take off in the game, a few hundred civilians had made it on board. Hundreds of innocents lives rested in my hands. It felt like too much for me to handle.

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. I wasn't going to be able to help them while I was standing out here. I sprinted off to the subway exit and the defenceless civilians. I ran into a few Covenant patrols on my way. Most of them were made up of a few grunts and an Elite. It didn't take long to get rid of them. It made sense to focus on the Elites first, using about half of a battle rifle magazine to take them down. I'd then switch to my double SMGs to kill the grunts while they panicked about the death of their leaders. It was amusing, watching the little bastards run around, waving their hands in the air. At one point, I considered letting them live, but then I remembered that a single grunt would be able to take down a large number of civilians before any marines arrived. Best for me to kill them. I wasn't about to let the deaths of innocents be (indirectly) my fault. I spotted some Brutes leading some patrols too. They were a lot easier to kill. One three-round burst to get rid of their helmets and another to finish them off. I was glad they didn't have the Power Armour that they had in _Halo 3 _and _ODST. _It would have taken too long to take them down. Every second I wasted fighting them was another second other patrols had to seek out other civilians.

It didn't take long to reach the exit the civilians were using to get to the city. There were hundreds of them, all panicking. I heard some calling out for family members and friends. The crowd was a jumble of different people. Young, old. Male, female. Differences in size, skin colour, everything about each member of the crowd was different. Some had bags of personal belongings, but most didn't. I guessed that out of all the civilians, only about a third of them would get onto the ships. Pessimistic, I know, but there were only so many seats available. I just hoped that there were no selfish bastards who would leave their children behind just to survive another day. I snarled unconsciously, as I remembered the Insurrectionists who had used children as shields. Everyone who would use children in that way should die. Yeah, you're probably saying that Halsey used the SPARTAN-II candidates in the same way, but she always regretted taking children in that way. She also had the best interests of humanity at heart in her actions. If a few dozen children lose their childhood in order to prevent the deaths of millions more, then it was worth it. I hated myself for thinking that way, but it was the truth.

Back to the defence of the civilians. They were all more or less wandering around aimlessly. As soon as I looked at the map on one of the large screens surrounding the subway, four points on the map flashed. One was near the centre of the city. I assumed that was the subway station I was at. The other three were the cargo containers that were being used for getting the civilians out of the city. The four points continued to flash as a Scottish accented voice spoke over the loudspeakers. It was probably considered to be an _Arcadian_ accent here, but I was going to call it Scottish anyway. Stick with what you know, right.

"Attention civilians," the voice said. "Make your way to the cargo containers marked on the maps around the exit. Do not stop. I repeat, do not stop."

Just then, a new voice spoke over the UNSC main channel.

"Arcadia Ground Control, this is Sgt. Forge. We are inbound to assist in evacuation efforts. Hang in there."

The _Spirit of Fire _had arrived. Our chances of getting the civilians off this rock just sky-rocketed. Minutes later, a group of Hornets flew overhead and a few Pelican drop ships dropped a few Warthogs and marine squads in. The civilians had started to head towards the evac containers. Personally, I though they weren't moving fast enough. But, then again, I was a Spartan. Ordinary humans always would seem slow to me. And to the other Spartans as well, I suppose.

Just then, I saw a grunt prepare to throw a plasma grenade. I quickly checked where the grenade was most likely to land. My eyes widened in shock. The grenade was going to land near a child. It was a young boy, probably only a few years old. He was only 50 metres away. I would be able to reach the boy easily before the grenade landed. Immediately, I rushed towards him as fast as I could. I was not about to let a child die if I could have prevented it.

Even at top speed, the grenade landed before I reached the boy. I wasn't too far away when it hit the ground so I dived at the boy and grabbed him. I twisted while flying through the air to shield the child from the worst of the explosion. When the grenade detonated, I felt a massive wave of heat wash against my back. In the games, you have energy shields so you would be able to survive a plasma grenade explosion if it wasn't too close. As I was wearing Mark IV armour, I didn't have any shields, so there was nothing blocking me from the explosion. That didn't matter to me. All that I was concerned with was the child I was trying to save. As soon as I landed,I got to my feet and rushed to find a safe place to put the child. There were still Covenant around. Looking around as I kept moving, I spotted a building with its doors open. I quickly turned towards it and ran, ducking and dodging as plasma flew around me. It took a few seconds to reach it, but those seconds felt like an eternity for me. The plasma flying around and the bullets fired by the marines seemed to have slowed to a crawl.

_'So this is Spartan-Time,' _I thought. I'd read about the concept in the books, when a Spartan's reflexes increased so much that the whole world seemed to be moving in slow-motion. I didn't dwell on it too long. I had a child in my arms that I needed to get to safety. As soon as I entered the building, I put the child down on the floor.

"Stay in here," I told him. "I'll be back soon." I didn't give him time to reply. As soon as I had finished talking, I had turned and ran out the door, back into the fight.

The moment I stepped out of the building, my enhanced Spartan senses let me see exactly what I was up against. I saw four Elites, three of the in blue armour, the other in red. Three Minors and a Major. That was going to be tough. With them were about twenty grunts. Fifteen of them were in orange armour, the rest were wearing red. Fifteen grunt minors and five grunt majors. I chose to focus on the grunts first, take out a greater number of my enemies first. The grunts were more or less split between evenly. One half were on the right of the Elites, the other half on the left.

I grabbed a frag grenade and tossed it into the group of Elites. I knew it wouldn't kill them, but it would disorient them while I took care of the grunts. As soon as the first grenade detonated, I had already grabbed two more grenades and tossed one into each group of grunts. The explosion of the grenades knocked some of the methane tanks of the grunts. Did I mention that methane is highly flammable? Well, it is. I grabbed my SMGs and fired into the escaping gas. The bullets were enough to spark the gas and the explosion grew larger. That took care of one side of the grunts. I quickly turned to the other grunts and fired into them. I emptied the magazines of both weapons. 120 bullets pounded into the little guys, tearing them to pieces. The grunts were down and the Elites were just coming out of the daze my first grenade had put them into. I grabbed my last frag grenade and tossed it into the group. The explosion killed two of them and knocked down the shields of the others. I placed my empty SMGs on the magnetic plates on my thighs and drew my battle rifle. Two quick pulls of the trigger and they fell to the ground,dead. The whole thing had taken only ten seconds. Damn, I'm good.

I turned to head back to the child and saw him sticking his head out from around the door. I rushed towards him and took him back into the room

"I told you to stay inside," I told him."Why didn't you listen?"

The boy was trembling. "I'm sorry, Mister. I just wanted to see the fight."

I sighed. I really shouldn't be angry at the kid. He was in the middle of a battlefield. He was just curious. I took my helmet off showing my face to the kid. He probably thought I was some sort of robot. Having him see a human face would help a lot. My dark brown hair fell down in front of my eyes, and I brushed it aside.

"My name's Kevin. What's yours?" I asked him. "Where's your family?"

"My name's Adam," the boy said. Then he paused.

"And your family?" I prompted.

"Gone," he said, sadly. I knew what he meant. Either his family had abandoned him or they were dead. I hoped it was the second one. It would have been hard to see your family die, but worse to know they just left you.

"Well then, Adam, I'm going to get you out of here." I put my helmet back on and picked him up. "Hold on tight." I told him. I felt his hands tighten on my arms. I sprinted out of the room and headed towards the transports. I was closest to transport #3, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to save than ship. I'd promised this child that I was going to get him out of here,and I intended to keep that promise. The next closest was transport #2 so I headed for that one. You might say that I was abandoning the civilians at the subway exit, but I didn't think of it that way. The reinforcements from the _Spirit of Fire_ would be able to defend them for the time it took of me to get Adam to the cargo container and for me to return to the subway exit.

I didn't stop to engage any of the enemies I encountered on my way to the evac container. I had one of my SMGs out and fired at some of the grunts I say along the way, but did not stop. I'd just end up putting Adam in needless danger. It took about five minutes of running at top speed until I reached the transport. Douglas had done a good job at defending the transport so there were no Covenant around. Douglas saw me sprinting and spoke to me over Red Team's personal channel.

"Four! What are you doing here?" he demanded. "You should be at the subway station."

"_Spirit of Fire's _reinforcements have that taken care of. And I will _not _let a child die if I can prevent it." It was then that he noticed the child I held.

"This area's clear for now," he said. "Leave the child here and get back to the station. The marines won't be able to hold it by themselves."

"Understood," I said over the radio. I stopped running and put Adam down. "This is it, kid," I told him. "Get onto the ship and get out of here." He lunged forward and hugged my leg.

"Thank you, mister," he said. I knelt down and returned the hug, careful not to put too much strength into it.

"Don't worry about it, Adam. Now get out of here." He let go of my leg and I turned and started my run back to the subway station. Now that I was on my own again, I could move a lot faster without worrying about the child. On my way back, I stopped to take care of a few Covenant patrols. About five minutes later, I arrived back at the subway station. Maybe I should have stayed. I was only just back and could see things weren't going well.

The UNSC forces had been weakened by my absence. Most of the Warthogs had been destroyed by Covenant attacks and there were Covenant vehicles scattered around the area. I counted four Ghosts and a Wraith. Immediately I rushed towards the Wraith. It was the biggest threat to the civilians and the marines. The grunt on the turret was quickly taken care of by a quick burst from my battle rifle. That was one thing I enjoyed about this world. Unlike in the games, killing the turret gunner on a Wraith wouldn't mean the driver knew instantly. I leapt onto the purple tank and tore open the driver's hatch. There was an Elite Minor driving the tank. It looked up at me in surprise. I drew back my fist and slammed it into the driver's head, taking down it's shields. Another punch caved in it's skull. That was messy. I dragged the Elite's corpse out of the tank, shaking off the pieces of brain that had stuck to my fist. Like I said, messy. Then I hopped into the driver's seat. It wasn't a comfortable fit. Strangely enough, Wraith's _aren't _designed to be used by humans. Who knew?

More sarcasm, by the way.

The Ghosts were scattered among the civilians and the _Spirit of Fire's _forces. I wasn't able to get a clear shot at them without killing my own side. Just at that moment, another Wraith turned the corner. I knew that was my cue. I turned my captured Wraith towards the Covenant reinforcements and launched a plasma mortar at the Wraith. Whatever I had seen about the effects of plasma mortars in the games were instantly and completely forgotten. The grunt that was manning the Wraith's turret was vaporised by the explosion and parts of the tank were melted. The enemy tank was still functioning though. I quickly corrected that mistake with another plasma mortar. The tank blew up in an explosion of purple flames. I wasn't sure that was even possible, but I wasn't complaining. As soon as the Wraith was destroyed, the Ghosts in the area turned to face me. They knew that either the pilot of this Wraith had either turned against the Covenant or had been taken by the enemy. They quickly rushed towards me. Four Ghosts against one Wraith piloted by a Spartan. Such poor odds for them.

It didn't take long for them to reach me. I had blown one of them up with a shot while they were speeding towards me, but that still left three Ghosts for me to deal with. They started circling me and firing their plasma cannons at me, careful to stay out of the way of my plasma mortar. Just then, some Warthogs started firing at the Ghosts. Two of them broke off from attacking me to deal with this new threat. That gave me a chance. They weren't looking where they were going and passed in front of me. As soon as they did, I launched an attack on them. One plasma mortar was all it took to destroy the two that had decided to attack the newcomers. The last Ghost was taken out by a shot from a gauss cannon. Immediately after that, a new group of Covenant infantry turned the corner. The Wraith I was in was in pretty bad shape, so I overloaded the engines and boosted towards them. As soon as I was sure that the Wraith would hit the enemies, I jumped out of the Wraith. I rolled along the ground as I landed before getting to my feet and running like hell. After about five seconds, there was a massive explosion as the Wraith's engines detonated, taking out most of the Covenant soldiers and seriously wounding the rest.

Suddenly, the turret gunner on the gauss Warthog was hit by a beam rifle shot. I followed the trail of the shot to its source and quickly finished off the sniper. The driver of the warthog pulled up next to me. Thankfully, Sgt. Forge hadn't been on the gun. Instead he was the driver. I wasn't complaining. The UNSC needed soldiers like Forge in this war.

"Looks like I'm down a gunner, Spartan," he said to me. "Fancy a turn on the gauss turret?"

I just responded by climbing onto the turret and saying "Drive."

The gauss turret was an amazing weapon. I'd seen the destruction it could cause in the games, but using it in reality was something else. Shots to Ghosts tore through the vehicles, shots to infantry vaporised the soldiers. Wraiths were more heavily armoured, so it took a few shots to take them out, but it was a hell of a lot faster than using a stolen Wraith. The gauss turret could fire a lot faster than in the games, but I didn't fire as fast as I could with it. What they didn't show in the games was that the gauss turret could overheat. Despite this, the weapon was still amazing.

Just as I was starting to enjoy myself, I heard a voice over the radio that was going to confirm my worst fears.

"Cargo Three under heavy fire! Screw the evac, proceeding with emergency launch."

I contacted the ship trying to take off. "Cargo Three, do not take off, repeat, do not take off. You'll be open to attack from Covenant Banshees."

My pleas fell on deaf ears. Most of the buildings between myself and Cargo Three had been destroyed in the battle. Over the ruins I could see Cargo Three attempting to take off. It didn't make it very far. Banshees quickly swooped down on the transport, hitting its engines with fuel rod shots. The transport then fell behind the ruins, out of sight. Seconds later, there was a massive explosion. Cargo Three was down.

I had failed.

**Sorry to disappoint you, douchiesnacks, but I ave no plans for a romance between Kevin and Doctor Halsey.**

**Please review.**


	10. Retreat

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 9

Retreat

**AN: I could explain why this chapter took so much longer to get out than the other, but I doubt anyone would care. Do any of you even _read _these notes?**

**I've also decide to give these chapter titles instead of the generic chapter numbers I've used so far.**

I looked over the ruined buildings of Pirth City to the cloud of smoke rising from the former location of Cargo Three. I hadn't been able to stop the pilot from taking off. How many innocent civilians had been on the transport when it had been destroyed? How many civilians in the surrounding area trying to get on the ship had been killed or inured in the blast? I thought about the child I had saved not too long ago. How many more like him had been killed? I didn't know. I didn't _want _to know. That wasn't something you'd want to think about. Well, it wasn't something _I _wanted to think about anyway. I couldn't speak for anyone else.

I was close to tears at this point. I felt that the deaths of the civilians on board had been my fault. I had known the ship would try and take off early and would be destroyed because of it. But I wasn't able to save them. I kept telling myself that I had done my best to help them, but that wasn't making me feel any better. Hundreds dead because of what I saw as my failure. This was going to take some time for me to deal with.

I probably would have stayed lost in my thoughts, considering what I could have down, what I shouldn't have done in my attempt to save them, if it wasn't for the gentle stimulation that taking a hit of plasma to the leg gives. I quickly looked down at my burn wound. The shot had hit me just below the knee. I probably should have been thankful it didn't hit a bit higher up. My leg armour was turning back to its normal colour, but a small bit of neon green still lingered on the suit for a moment. Than meant I had been hit by a plasma pistol shot. I looked around and spotted a grunt rapidly firing its plasma pistol in my direction. I assumed that was the one who had hit me and turned the gauss turret in its direction, firing a shot at it. The shot made the grenades it was carrying detonate as well, killing a number of the grunts surrounding it.

I wasn't planning on showing any mercy to the bastards now. I wanted to cause them as much pain as possible. The transport posed no threat at all to the aliens, but they chose to destroy it anyway. Hundreds of innocent civilians dead in seconds. And for what reason? Because our destruction was 'the will of the gods?' Bullshit. If humanity's destruction was the will of any gods then they would have simply got rid of us and we wouldn't be able to do a damn thing about it. No, whatever gods are out there just didn't care any more, if they ever did. Which brings me to the point I was trying to make. Every shot I made with the gauss turret was intended to cause as much suffering to the alien bastards. For the smaller ones, I just killed them outright, knowing that any shot would simply kill them instantly. For the larger ones, like the Elites and Brutes, I aimed for the arms and legs, crippling them. The joy I felt when I saw them fall to the ground clutching their new stumps where their arms or legs used to be was immeasurable. I knew that I shouldn't take any pleasure in it. The entire Covenant was being lied to by the Prophets about the nature of humanity. Even so, the fact that the aliens were killing innocents frustrated me intensely. I needed to let out my anger on someone. And luckily for me I could kill all the aliens I could aim my sights at.

I lost all sense of time. To me, all I saw was the enemies in the sights of the gauss turret, their corpses flying through the air, the explosions of their vehicles. Nothing else mattered more to me at that time than the deaths of the Covenant soldiers that had been sent here. No target was more important to me than any other. They were all just nameless individuals to me. Nameless individuals who needed to die for what they had done.

And before I knew it, I had run out of targets. There were no more aliens surrounding the subway exit. I could still hear the cries of pain coming from the aliens who had only been wounded. There were marines moving round and finishing them off, but I didn't pay much attention to them. All my attention was on the radio transmission coming in over the main UNSC com channel.

"This is Captain Cutter. The transports are away, repeat the transports are away. All UNSC forces pull back and regroup, new orders are incoming."

"Understood, Captain," Sergeant Forge replied. "Most of us are headed out through the city's traffic tunnels." He turned the hog around and headed to the traffic tunnels. "Good shooting, Spartan," he shouted back to me.

"I only wish I could have killed more of them," I replied.

"I think I'm going to like you," Forge laughed.

I looked back over the city as I saw the two surviving cargo containers escape from the doomed world. Despite the loss of the third cargo container, a large number of civilians had made it off the planet. That had to be worth something.

The drive out of the city was largely uneventful. We did run into a few Covenant patrols, but they were quickly taken care of. That was the magic of the gauss cannon. Tore through infantry, turned vehicles into scrap. Greatest. Weapon. Ever. Eventually, we came out of the traffic tunnels and into the countryside surrounding the city. The whole place would have been a nice place to live. You know, if it wasn't for the bad neighbours. You know, the _Covenant base_ we saw as we left the tunnels.

We'd just made our way into the 'Arcadia Outskirts' level of _Halo Wars' _campaign. What was the objective in this level again? _'Think you bastard, think!' _Destroying the Covenant base was obviously the most important one of them. If there were any more, I couldn't remember them. Give me a break! I never really played _Halo Wars _as much as the rest of the games. And it had been six years since I ever saw any of the games.

Sergeant Forge spoke over the main UNSC channel. "The Covenant are right on our asses! Keep moving, damn it!"

A new voice cut in, a woman. "I've scanned the area. Get to the crater south-east of your position, that's the easiest area to defend."

"You heard the AI," Forge called out over the cam channel, "Get to that crater. Do _not _engage any Covenant on the way." AI. That meant that 'woman' was Serina, the _Spirit of Fire's _AI. Random fact that I remembered, she has a theoretical interest in chocolate.

I shook my head. _'Typical, I can remember useless trivia, but not the important details.' _Now wasn't the time to remember details of the games. Now was the time for me to blow up any Covenant following us. Yeah, Forge had said not to engage, but I wasn't going to sit by while marines died because they didn't have a Warthog or Scorpion to hide in. Anyway, I outranked him. All SPARTAN-IIs had been promoted to Petty Officer Second Class once we started to fight the Covenant. I could order the soldiers to disregard his command, but I chose not to. It would probably be seen as insubordination, as Cutter had probably put Forge in charge of this mission. Spartans were supposed to be an example to the soldiers.

It took about five minutes for us to reach the crater. We could have gone faster, but Forge wasn't planning on leaving anyone behind. Unfortunately, when we reached the crater, it was infested with Covenant.

"Clear them out!" Forge commanded. _'Gladly' _I thought, and opened fire on the Covenant. Each shot I made hit its intended target, tearing through vehicles and killing infantry with one blast. I wasn't likely to change my view on the weapon any time soon. We quickly cleared out the alien bastards and had a brief moment to relax. I looked around at the remaining forces we had. To be honest, I wasn't optimistic about our chances. In total we had two Scorpion tanks, one gauss warthog, three machine gun warthogs, ten marine squads, two ODST squads and four Spartans. In the game, that would have been enough to repel almost any assault, but this wasn't a game any more. Back home, my moves and that of my AI enemies were limited by hardware and game mechanics. Here, they could just glass this area and we would be toast (no pun intended).

"We don't have much time to prepare for the Covenant's attack," Forge said over the com channel. "Let's fortify this area until reinforcements arrive." He then turned to me. "Spartan, get yourself back to the rest of your team. You'll be more effective as a group."

"Understood, Sergeant," I said and hopped off the turret. I really didn't want to, the gauss turret was probably going to be my favourite weapon of the war, but Forge was right. Spartans _are _more effective in groups. The marine that was in the passenger seat of the Warthog hopped out of his seat and climbed onto the turret. _'Lucky bastard' _I thought as Forge drove off, before contacting the rest of Red Team.

"Red One, this is Red Four. What are your orders?"

"Red Four, join up on me. We'll be stationed on east side of the entrance, Two and Three will be stationed on the west side. Move!"

Within minutes, the remaining soldiers had split themselves into half, one half going to the left of the crater entrance, the other half going to the right. We waited. And waited. And waited.

"Are they _ever _going to show up?" a bored marine asked. Just then, a Ghost ramped over the edge of the crater.

"You just _had _to open your mouth!" one of his squadmates exclaimed as we opened fire on the Ghost. The pilot was good., I'll give it that. Even the Spartans were struggling to land a hit on the bastard. A few marines went down after being hit by the twin plasma cannons of the vehicle. Then it started boosting for the exit of the crater. It was planning on heading back to its superiors and informing them of our strength. I wasn't planning on letting that happen. As it sped towards the edge of the crater, it boosted very close to my position. The only weapons I had close at hand were my battle rifle and SMGs, none of which would be effective against the Ghosts armour. I knew what I had to do.

As it moved closer, time seemed to slow. Eventually, it appeared to be barely moving. I saw how fast it was moving, the direction it was moving in. I calculated how much strength I needed to put into my legs and the direction I needed to jump in. If I missed this, there was no 'reload checkpoint'. If I jumped too early, I'd end up getting run over by the Ghost. If I jumped too late, I'd miss completely. It was now or never. I jumped.

As I flew through the air, time seemed to slow even further. I was almost at the Ghost. I just needed to get a little closer. Just a little closer...

My feet smashed down on the Ghost. Immediately, I tore up a section of the armour and grabbed on to stop myself from falling off. I looked directly into the eyes of the Elite piloting the machine. It's eyes widened in shock before it roared at me. If you've never seen an Elite roar directly into your face count yourself lucky. It wasn't exactly a pleasant sight, seeing the four mandibles spread out, allowing you to stare into it's throat. I imagine the smell would be pretty bad too. I wasn't deterred. I swung my legs around towards the Elite, smashing in its shields and knocking it off the Ghost.

I had a basic knowledge of how to pilot the Covenant's vehicles, all Spartans did. But this was the first time I had piloted a Ghost in a real combat situation. Before this, I had only used the simulators. That was closer to what I was used to back home, but now I had a real Ghost in my hands. If I messed up here, I could get some marines killed. Or a Spartan if I wasn't careful. Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about that. I turned my captured Ghost to face the Elite. It had rolled a bit after being knocked out of the vehicle and was back on its feet now. I was facing down into the crater with marines on either side. There wasn't any chance for me to hit any allies. I gripped the triggers of the plasma cannons and opened fire on the Elite. The alien's energy shields had started to regenerate, but the rapid firing of the Ghost's plasma cannons quickly cut it down.

The Covenant scout had been killed, but that didn't mean the aliens had no idea what they were up against. In the time it took firing at the marines, it could have got off a message to it superiors. The knowledge of four Spartans at the human position would have been sent off to the leaders first. And that meant the next attack would be huge. Massive numbers that would probably overwhelm us. Wraiths, Ghosts, Hunter pairs, squads of Elites, packs of Brutes, waves of Grunts, Jackal sharpshooters, swarms of Drones. They'd send them all and even with four SPARTAN-IIs, we would be overwhelmed. We'd cause heavy casualties to the attacking force but in the end, without reinforcements, we would die. Unless Spartan Team Omega showed up soon to help us.

About ten minutes passed while we waited for the next Covenant attack. Most of the marines had lowered their weapons. The lack of any immediate threat had caused them to lower their guard. Only a few marines, the ODSTs and Red Team were ready for anything. These marines were probably new to the job. They were ignoring one of the most important rules of battle. Even in a brief period where there seemed to be no attacks, _never _let your guard down.

Some of them learned this the hard way when a large swarm of grunts flooded over the crater edge. I assumed the scout hadn't got any information to the commanders of the Covenant attack. We tore through them easily, taking very limited casualties. From what I saw between firing bursts of plasma from the Ghost's cannons, five marines went down due to the sudden rush of grunts. Almost all of our casualties were from the first appearance of the grunts.

"Yeah, you better run!" one of the marines yelled as the few remaining grunts turned and headed back out of the crater. "We are unbeatable!"

"Are ye daft, lad?" a heavy Scottish accented voice snapped at the young marine. "That was just the first wave. The bastard's are only testin' our defences. You'll have a real fight on your hands next time."

He was right. Within minutes, a larger attack force appeared over the edge of the crater. There were Jackals with wrist mounted shields in the front, followed by a large number of grunts with Elites and Brutes scattered among them. Hunters were coming up the rear of the infantry attacking us. Behind them were a few Wraith tanks and Ghosts. This was going to be a hard fight. I wasn't sure how many of us would survive the battle, if any of us did. But if we were going down, we were going to take down all the Covenant bastards we could with us.

Sergeant Forge obviously didn't think we would get out of this alive. "_Spirit_, this is Forge. We need reinforcements, _now_!"

Captain Cutter spoke over the coms. "Hang in there a little longer, Forge. Reinforcements are inbound. For now, enjoy the light show."

For a few moments, I was confused about the captain's last words. Then I saw a few streaks of light flying down out of the sky. The light smashed into the Covenant's rear armour, taking out most of the Wraiths, a few Hunters and all of the Ghosts. A few Shortsword bombers flew over the area, carpet bombing the infantry, taking out a large number of the Covenant's offensive.

MAC blasts and bombing runs. The _Spirit of Fire _was up there somewhere keeping an eye on us. But that wasn't all they had for us. Over the UNSC channel came a male voice.

"All UNSC forces, Spartan Team Omega is inbound to reinforce your position."

I grinned under my helmet. Maybe we stood a chance after all.

**For the purpose of this fic, Spartan Team Omega is a different Spartan team, instead of the sub-group of Red Team they are in Halo canon.**

**Please review.**


	11. Counter Attack

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 10

Counter-attack

**AN: Sorry this chapter took so long. Hopefully it won't take so long for many other chapters.**

Outskirts of Pirth City, Arcadia**  
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I watched as the Pelican carrying Omega Team landed on the ground near the centre of the crater. It goes without saying that I was excited. When I saw the force the Covenant had sent to try and kill us, I thought that we had no chance of surviving. Now we would be able to fight back and drive the Covies off Arcadia. They'd be back eventually, but we'd give the planet's civilians more time to be evacuated. Six SPARTAN-IIs jumped out. I checked their Spartan tags to see who I would be fighting alongside.

James-005. Omega One. One of the most accurate Spartans. The only Spartan with better aim with a sniper rifle was Linda-058.

Vinh-030. Omega Two. Heavy weapons specialist. Considered to be a little off balance, she was only truly happy when she had explosives in her hands.

Isaac-039. Omega Three. Calm under the most extreme pressures, he was deadly with a Battle Rifle. Not a single bullet of his was ever wasted.

Keiichi-047. Omega Four. Another of Omega's sharpshooters, he was just as deadly to the Covenant using a Battle Rifle as 039.

Malcolm-059. Omega Five. Like Alice-130 (and later, Jorge-052), he favoured using a turret to rain death down on his foes.

Maria-062. Omega Six. Another turret was added to our forces arsenal. All the more bullets to tear holes in the aliens.

Ten SPARTAN-IIs. The Covenant wasn't going to know what hit them.

"Red One, this is Omega One," James said over the Spartan's personal channel. "Where do you want us?"

Jerome grabbed a sniper rifle from a dead marine. "Omega One, you're with me. We will be Squad One. Omega Two, you're with Red Two. You will be Squad Two. Omegas Five and Six, you're with Red Three. Your designation is Squad Three. Omegas Three and Four, you're with Red Four. Your call sign will be Squad Four. The member of Red Team in each group leads." The Spartans of Omega Team rushed to get into their assigned groups.

Just then, Captain Cutter spoke to us on the radio. "Spartans, we need to get that Covenant base destroyed before we send in Pelicans for evac. But there's a Covenant mega turret that will tear our forces to pieces if we try to advance. Take that turret out and then lead the assault on the base."

"Consider it done," Jerome said. He then switched to the Spartan's personal com channel. "Squads Three and Four, stay here, defend the crater and prepare for a counter-attack. Squad Two, come with me and Omega One. We'll take out that turret and then move to assist the counter-attack. Clear?"

"Clear!" we all responded in unison. Squads One and Two made their way to the exit at the rear of the crater, heading off to take out the Covenant mega turret making our escape impossible.

Isaac turned to face me. "Orders?" he asked.

I wasn't too good with this. In battle I was always content to let others lead. Now the responsibility for two Spartans had been placed in my hands. If I messed up, then a Spartan (or two) could be dead.

I shook off my nerves at this situation. Standing around worrying about what _might _happen wasn't going to kill Covies.

"Take the high ground around the edge of the crater. Aim for high priority targets. Elite, Brutes. Ghost pilots too if you can get a good shot. I'll be down among the marines, helping where I'm needed."

"Sounds good to me," Keiichi said. That was good. I had expected some strong criticism about my plan.

The pair saluted and headed off to get into position, ready for the next attack. The _Spirit of Fire's _well timed intervention had really hurt the aliens. The wave that came over the crater edge was composed mainly of Grunts. There were some Elites and Brutes scattered among them, but almost everything I saw was Grunts. A few Ghosts could be seen bringing up the rear, but that was the extent of their armour.

Isaac and Keiichi followed their orders to the letter. The Elites and Brutes quickly fell to two battle rifle wielding Spartans. The Ghosts moved forwards, intent on causing as much damage to the marines as possible. Then the pilots fell out of the seats, the blood coming out of their heads clear to me, even at this distance. The pilot-less Ghosts smacked into the ground, flipping and crushing a few of the Grunts. This didn't look like it was going to take long. And it didn't. Squad Three was laying into the swarm of Grunts with extreme prejudice. All over the place, Grunts' methane tanks were flying off and small explosions where the gas was set alight.

As soon as the swarm had been finished off, I saw some of the ODSTs rush to the still intact Ghosts. They got them flipped back upright and climbed in. That was good, we could use the extra fire-power. Another wave of enemies came over the edge of the crater. This one was made up mainly of Jackals. The ODSTs on the Ghosts tore into them, quickly overloading their wrist shields and allowing the marines to finish them off. The few Brutes and Elites that accompanied them were easily dispatched.

Not too long after the second wave, there was a large explosion. I looked behind me and saw an enormous cloud of purple flame rushing into the air. Among the flame, I saw purple-ish pieces of metal flying around. The mega turret was down. Just to confirm my suspicions, Jerome's voice came on over the com channel.

"All UNSC forces. The mega turret is down. Launch counter-attack now!" It was time for the Covenant to feel the full force of our strike.

"You heard the Spartan!" Sergeant Forge shouted. "Time to kick some Covenant ass!" A loud cheer came from the marines and they began marching towards the edge of the crater. As soon as we climbed over the edge, we saw another Covenant attack force heading straight for us.

"Take cover!" a marine yelled. No-one needed to be told twice. Marines ran in all directions to find somewhere to hide so they wouldn't be hit by plasma. The vehicles stayed out in the open, as did the Spartans. Show no fear in the face of the enemy, right? That's what the marines expected of Spartans.

This group of Covenant was a lot smaller than the previous waves. A quick check showed me that this one was only about half the size. They had obviously decided to stop fucking about and was throwing a massive wave of Hunters, Brutes and Elites at us. Thankfully, at that moment, eight sniper rifle shots flew through the air. Eight rockets followed, decimating the attack force. After the sudden assault, I saw very few Elites were left and a few Hunter pairs had also survived. The Scorpion tanks we had quickly finished off the Hunters while Squad Four took care of the surviving Brutes and Elites.

Squads One and Two climbed down from the hill at the side of the path we were using to get to the Covenant base. The marines let out a huge cheer when they saw the Spartans and realised that they were the ones who had saved them from a long firefight. Jerome opened a com channel with the rest of the Spartans.

"Spartans, we'll be breaking into the Covenant base while the marines distract the bulk of the enemy forces. From there we'll overload the base's reactors and get the hell out of there. Keep in your assigned Squads. Understand?" Nine acknowledgement lights flashed green to show we understood the plan.

The rest of the march to the base passed without any more encounters with the Covenant. Soon we rounded the corner and saw the Covenant base. I hadn't really got a good look at it when we were passing by on our retreat to the crater. It didn't look anything like the games. It seemed to have more in common with a 21st century military base than the _Halo Wars _bases. Buildings were scattered around the area. Some of them were some sort of garages, others looked like landing pads. In the centre of all of it I saw an enormous building that looked like the central part of the Covenant bases in _Halo Wars_. I assumed that was their main command structure. That was going to be our main target. I saw a few buildings with large amounts of Grunts entering and exiting them. I assumed that they were places the Grunts could go to get out of their armour. That meant that they would be full of methane. And_ that _meant they would go up in a massive explosion if we got a good shot at it.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one with that idea, as rockets and Scorpion tank shells flew towards the buildings. The explosions were amazing. Think about what would happen if you piled up all the explosives and vehicles in Forge Mode, and had a full game all fire rockets at it at once. Then imagine the same thing happening four or five times at different parts of the map _all at once. _That was something like what I saw when all the Grunts' methane houses went up. Put simply, it was beautiful. I understood why some SPARTAN-IIs favoured explosives.

I had to look away from the sight thought, because scattered all over the base were Brutes and Elites with some Hunter pairs as well. They were caught off guard. They probably didn't expect an attack on their base, even after all their previous assaults on our position had failed. It would have been suicide in most cases.

Not when the attacking force had ten SPARTAN-IIs. This was going to be an ass-kicking of epic proportions.

Jerome spoke over the Spartans' secure channel. "Squads Two and Three, get to the base! Squad Four, form up on me and help us cover their entrance. Move!"

Nine acknowledgement lights once again flashed green in confirmation. As one, my squad turned and headed for the location of Squad One. They weren't too far away. It took barely 30 seconds to reach them. We then turned and faced the area Squads Two and Three were moving through. We kept an eye over the squads, making sure to take out any Covenant that tried to stop them. About five minutes later, the squads entered the main command building.

"Alright squads, move up!" Jerome ordered. Immediately we started sprinting for the entrance. I saw a few Elites attempt to stop us, but they were taken down by marine snipers. Not as preferable as Spartan snipers, but they did the job. We got into the base about five minutes after we started our run. As soon as we entered the base, the doors shut behind us.

"So, where do we go from here?" I asked.

"The reactor room. Luckily its not too far from here," Jerome said. "Lets move. Squad Three, take point. Squad Two, get out your SMGs. Squad Four, you're next. Squad One will take up the rear."

Everyone lined up as ordered and we headed into the depths of the base. We spent about ten minutes winding through the corridors of the base. This place was huge. We were lucky not to run into any Covenant. Most of them were probably outside fighting off the marines. The only aliens still in this base were probably in the main command centre, directing the Covenant defence.

Eventually, we came to an enormous door. We decided that we would try and hack into the door controls instead of blowing the door down. That would have attracted unnecessary attention.

I was a bit wary of the whole situation. We had just broken into a Covenant base. Surely there were security cameras of some sort around the place that would have found us by now.

Isaac quickly finished hacking the door and the enormous piece of metal blocking our path moved out of the way.

We were into the reactor room.

**Cliffhanger-ish.**

**Please review**


	12. Escape

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 11

Escape

**AN: One month ago, I started this story. I'd expected to have given up a long time ago. Thanks for your support so far. I've also went through the previous chapters and corrected any spelling, grammar or punctuation mistake I made.**

Covenant Base, outskirts of Pirth City, Arcadia**  
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As soon as the door opened, I knew we had made a mistake. The room we were looking into wasn't the reactor room. That was much further on. The room we saw was an enormous auditorium. And that wasn't the worst part. The room was packed with Covenant, all of them aiming their weapons at us. My suspicions had been correct. The Covenant knew we had infiltrated their base and set up an ambush along the path we needed to take.

Immediately they opened fire on us. Thankfully, our enhanced speed meant we managed to get into cover at either side of the door. Some of the shots flew through the door as we stayed against the wall. From what I saw, the aliens were using a mixture of plasma rifles, plasma pistols, needlers and carbines. They had a good, well rounded force attacking us.

Thankfully, Jerome hadn't been forced into a panic by this turn of events. "Toss some smoke grenades out there!" he shouted over the sound of plasma. Each one of us grabbed a smoke grenade off our belts and tossed them in the room. We activated our visor's infra-red mode and headed in. The smoke cloud was huge, easily able to hide ten fully armoured SPARTAN-IIs. I got a good look at the room then. The room had two levels. One was a large rectangular space on the bottom, while a balcony ran around three of the walls. We had came in on the bottom floor with the balcony surrounding us.

"Get some grenades up on that balcony! Squad Four get up there!" Jerome ordered. We wasted no time. While Squad Two tossed grenades up to the balcony, Three took care of the aliens on the bottom floor and One took pot-shots at the aliens on the balcony, we rushed up a ramp at the side of the room. In two seconds we had reached the ramp, one second after that we had reached the balcony. Immediately we opened fire on the aliens. Three battle rifle wielding Spartans quickly took down a few Elites and some Brutes. The aliens on the other side of the balcony quickly switched their attention from the Spartans on the ground floor to us.

I rushed forward to the half-height wall running along the edge of the balcony and ducked behind it. The rest of Squad Four followed my lead. Hiding behind the wall, I watched the shots flying overhead. Taking into account the direction they were headed, I was able to build up a fairly accurate estimation of where the enemies were on the other side.

"Focus on the ones with carbines! On my mark!" I shouted to my squad over the constant sound of plasma and the bullets from the other Spartans. The acknowledgement lights of Squad Four winked green. I waited a few seconds for the stream of plasma to lessen. As soon as it did I yelled "Mark!" and we got to our feet and started firing at the aliens. We took a few of the Brutes down before being forced back into cover. We repeated this tactic a few more times. Then I spoke to my squad again.

"They probably won't fall for that again," I told them. "Use blind-fire while I sneak around the side."

"Got it," Keiichi replied, as Isaac took out his dual SMGs. The pair then raised their arms over the wall and began firing. As I made my way round the balcony, I heard some of the aliens roar in pain as the SMG rounds tore into them. It didn't take long to reach the Covenant side. I drew my SMGs, checked that I had full clips in them and swung out of cover. I opened up with the SMGs immediately, taking down a few Brutes with my sudden attack. I saw a few Elites there and swung my weapons towards them. The shields of the first one didn't last long under the punishing barrage of fire. The alien itself fell quickly afterwards. At that moment, my SMGs ran dry. I quickly dashed back into cover to reload. Thankfully my assault had distracted the aliens from my squad-mates, who took the chance to launch their own attack on the aliens, giving me time to reload. As soon as that was done, I jumped back out to resume my assault on the aliens. I took down another few Brutes and a pair of Elites with my attack. There were almost no aliens left up here and they were taken down quickly my a combination of two Spartans with battle rifles and me with my dual SMGs. As soon as we were down, I heard a loud roar from behind me. Turning to face the source of the cry, my face paled under my helmet as I saw a Zealot Elite charge me with an Energy Sword. It made a wild swing for me, one that I easily dodged. I swung my SMGs round to face the alien and unloaded all my ammo into its shields. The effect was minimal. From what I had peviously seen of Zealots in the war, I had taken off maybe a quarter of its shields. There was not time for me to reload. I tossed my SMGs at the alien to try and slow it down. It had virtually no effect. Its shield flared up at the force of the impact but it kept coming. I was starting to panic. Drawing my battle rifle, I unloaded the remaining rounds into the advancing alien's shields. Once my clip ran dry, I guessed the Zealot's shields were at half strength. This was _not _good! The Elite jumped forwards and made another swing for me. I raised my empty battle rifle to block the attack, moving backwards at the same time. The Energy Sword sliced through the weapon easily, my backwards movement letting me narrowly avoid the blade. I dropped the useless halves of my weapon and drew my combat knife, settling into a hand-to-hand combat stance. I was at a clear disadvantage here. The Elite had powerful shields and a longer reach with his Energy Sword, while I had a small knife and no shields at all. The Elite's mandibles twitched into what could be considered a smile. It had the upper hand and it knew it. Then it spoke in a broken form of English.

"Today you die, Demon," it growled, and lunged at me. Time slowed to a crawl. Acting purely on instinct, I dived to the right, rolling as I landed. I was back on my feet in an instant and turned to face the Elite. It was just as fast, facing me and making another lunge for me. I made another diving roll to avoid this strike. I wasn't going to be able to keep this up forever. I had to end this. Now! I had a plan. An insanely suicidal plan, but it was my best shot. To start with, I returned my combat knife to it's sheath. The Elite turned to face me again and made another lunge. This time I stood my ground until the last possible moment before making a quick step to the side to avoid the incoming blade. The Elite was surprised by this sudden change of tactics, and I seized my opportunity. I rushed forward and gave the Elite a strong punch to the jaw. The Elite stumbled back, taken off guard by my sudden offensive. I rushed forwards again, this time gripping the Elite's sword arm tightly, before squeezing hard. I heard the Elite roar in pain as the bones in its wrist snapped. It dropped the Energy Sword. As soon as the sword started to fall, I reached out and grabbed it. At the same time I swung my head forward, smashing into the Elite's head. It grunted in surprise and stumbled back even further. It was time to end this. Gripping the Energy Sword tightly in my right hand, I jumped forward, swinging the sword horizontally. The Elite's headless body fell to the floor while its head flew back over the edge of the balcony. I dropped the sword and let myself relax. I'd just beaten an Energy Sword wielding Zealot Elite in hand-to-hand combat. It wasn't and experience I wanted to repeat too soon. Taking a brief look around, I opened a com channel to Jerome.

"Red Four here, balcony is secure," I said.

"Copy that," Jerome replied. "We've just finished up down here. Get your squad and regroup at my position."

"On my way," I answered, and shut off my radio. I grabbed a carbine and some ammo from one of the dead Elites. On my return to my squad, I shared out my remaining battle rifle ammo. I wasn't going to be needing it any more.

We made our way down to regroup with the rest of the Spartans. As soon as we arrived, we started moving towards a door at the other end of the room. Behind this one was a hallway that eventually led us to the reactor room. The Covenant had posted most of their forces in the auditorium for the ambush, meaning that there were very few soldiers guarding the reactors. They were quickly dealt with. As soon as we had finished off the room's defenders, Squad Two got to work setting the explosives. The blast would destabilise the reactors and cause the destruction of the command centre. We'd have to move fast through. When the explosives went off, we would only have five minutes to escape the base or we'd be dead. One destroyed Covenant base wasn't worth the lives of ten SPARTAN-IIs.

"OK, we set the explosives on a five minute timer, so we have about ten minutes to get out of the blast radius," Douglas said as we started our escape.

"Then let's not waste any time," Jerome ordered. "Only engage any Covenant if necessary. Otherwise, just keep moving."

No-one needed telling twice. For most of the escape, things went smoothly. We didn't run into any Covenant until we were halfway there. Then, an Energy Sword wielding Elite jumped out of nowhere and swung at Isaac. The blade passed through his legs, cleanly chopping them off. The Elite didn't last long. Co-ordinated fire from nine Spartans tend to have that effect. As soon as the Elite was dead, Keiichi and myself moved towards the downed Spartan.

"Just leave me," he tried to tell us. "I'll just slow you down." We weren't having any of it. I grabbed the Spartan by his right arm and slung it round my neck, while Keiichi did the same with his left arm.

"Never leave a Spartan behind," I told him. "Not unless we have to. We'll get you out of here."

We quickly resumed our escape. Just then Forge spoke over the radio.

"Spartans, We've finished up with the enemies out here. Where the hell are you?" he asked.

"On our way, Sergeant," Jerome told him. "Get your forces out of here, this base is about to go up in flames. Keep a couple of Pelicans waiting for us though."

We ran into a few more Covenant soldiers, but they weren't a threat. Jerome and the others quickly took care of them. Eventually, there was only two minutes left on the timer. The explosives had gone off about three minutes ago. Just as I was about to give up hope, the door ahead of us opened and we saw daylight. There were a pair of Pelicans waiting for us. We split into two groups. Squads One and Three got on one Pelican, while Squads Two and Four got on the other. As soon as we were all on board, I moved to the cockpit and told the pilot to get us out of here. He didn't need me to repeat myself. As we flew away from the doomed base, I decided to check out Isaac's injuries. He'd blacked out during our escape. Thankfully, he wasn't in any immediate danger. The heat of the plasma that made up the sword had cauterised the wound, stopping any blood loss. He'd be out of the fight for a while, but he'd survive.

Then Vinh spoke over the radio. She'd started a countdown from ten. I looked back at the base, remembering how close I'd came to death in my fight with the Zealot Elite. She reached zero, and the base exploded in a huge purple fireball.

We'd survived yet another battle.

**Review Responses**

**The Other Guy: While you're correct in saying that the ODSTs were angry about not being the UNSC's elite soldiers any more, the death of three ODSTs at John-117's hands also contributed to the anger the ODST's felt towards the Spartans**

**xerox: Set up a profile here and message me. I'll see what I can do about your request.**


	13. Frustrations

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 12

Frustrations

**AN: I spent about a week trying to write this chapter around the _Halo Wars_ campaign level _Dome of Light _before realising it just wouldn't work. Then I rediscovered Fallout 3 in my collection of 360 games. After that, some relatives from England came over to visit. And about a week ago I got Final Fantasy for my iPod touch. All that combines to make a really late update. Sorry it took so much longer than expected.**

16th February 2531

UNSC _Spirit of Fire, _in Slipspace en-route to Forerunner Shield World

After we'd arrived at the UNSC base on Arcadia, the medical team that had been called for on our way back to the base had taken Isaac off our hands, and Red and Omega Teams went their separate ways. Red Team then aided in defending the plasma Rhinos that were needed to take down the Covenant shield around the incomplete Super Scarab. They took almost no damage. That brought a brief smile to my face. _'Achievement Unlocked: Rhino Hugger' _I thought. Then Anders was taken by the Arbiter and Red Team was ordered to board the _Spirit of Fire_. Right now we were in travelling in Slipspace between Arcadia and that Forerunner planet. Most of the crew had went into cryo-sleep, but I had always hated it and chose to remain awake

That was how I found myself alone in the gym of the _Spirit of Fire, _pounding away at the punching bag. In my eyes, the Battle of Arcadia was a disaster. One of the cargo ships had been shot down and Isaac had been injured. That was a few hundred civilians dead and a SPARTAN-II out of the fight for a few weeks at best. That would cause more deaths as Omega Team would be slowed down by the absence of their teammate.

I still couldn't stop thinking about the destroyed transport. I kept telling myself than I couldn't have done anything to stop it from happening, but I didn't believe that for a second. I had prepared myself for the possibility that my attempt would fail, but clearly not enough, as tears trickled down my face.

_'We fucked up,' _I thought to myself. _'_I _fucked up!' _I was so focused on taking my frustrations out on the punching bag, that I hadn't noticed that I was no longer alone in the room.

"I thought I'd find you down here," a voice said. I looked over my shoulder, seeing Alice leaning against the wall next to the door to the gym. I turned back to the punching bag without saying a word. I wasn't in any mood to talk to anyone right now. "You're not exactly helping anyone, wearing yourself out like that," she said after a few seconds of silence.

"What do you even what with me?" I snapped at her. I'd spoken very little over the past week, so my voice was a bit hoarse.

I heard her begin to walk towards me from behind. "Kevin, you're being far too hard on yourself. There wasn't anything you could have done to save that transport."

"I saw it coming," I snapped back at her.

"We all saw it coming, as soon as the pilot made his choice."

"I knew it was going to happen before it did! I could have done something!" Far too late, I realised I'd said too much. I could practically feel Alice's gaze on my back.

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

_'Shit,' _I thought. _'How am I going to get out of this one?' _I took a few more hard swings at the punching bag, trying to think of what I was going to tell her. The truth? No. Halsey wasn't here to back me up. She'd think I had gone insane if I told her that. Was there something in my fictional past I could use to explain my words? Yes, there was.

"You want to know how I saw it coming? Then you have to know about the group of secret Spec Ops Spartans I was a part of."

"What about it?" Alice asked. Her tone of voice showed that she was confused about what I was saying.

"The reason we were kept secret," I replied. "Every one of us had shown evidence of having some form of psychic powers." I honestly had no idea where I was going with this, but it was too late to turn back now. I just had to roll with it and hope things worked out OK. "Telepathy. Telekinesis. Things like that," I said, giving her examples. "My power was precognition." I took another hard swing at the punching bag. "I saw the transport's destruction happening before the battle even began. I could have saved it!"

"If you saw the transport's destruction happening, then there was no way you could have saved it," Alice said.

"Wrong," I snapped back. "I have living, breathing proof that I can change things. Sam. If I had let thins play out as I saw them, we would have got MJOLNIR earlier, but when we got it there would have been a Covenant attack in the local system, Chi Ceti IV, and Sam would have ended up dead. If you don't believe me, ask Doctor Halsey next time you see her." I took a few more hard swings at the punching bag. "I don't even know why I'm even trying to explain this to you," I snapped at her. "Leave me alone."

Alice was taken aback by my sudden hostile tone. "Fine!" she snapped back at me,and turned to leave the gym. This wasn't good. I couldn't afford to have her angry with me. Not with what was about to happen.

"Alice," I called out to her. I heard her footsteps stop.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't get angry with you. It's..." I sighed. "I just need some time to think about this."

"Don't worry about it," she replied softly. Then she left the gym. I sighed and returned to my workout.

But the talk I'd just had was already having an effect. Venting my frustrations verbally as well as physically through my workout was making me see things more clearly now. There _wasn't _anything I could have done to save the transport. That was plainly obvious to me now. The pilot of the transport had made his decision and I had to accept the results of that decision. Getting all worked up about it would just impair my performance in future missions.

"There always was something different about you," a voice echoed around the room.

I sighed again. "No point in asking if you heard that, is there Serina?" I asked sarcastically.

"None at all," the AI chuckled as she appeared on the nearest hologram generator. Then she turned serious. "Was all that true? Do you have 'psychic powers?'"

"Maybe," I replied cryptically. "Maybe not. And until I know I can trust you, you're just going to have to keep guessing." At that, I made my way out of the gym. Then I stopped at the door. "Serina," I said. "Be ready for anything. That's my advice."

I could tell the AI was smirking at my back. "Aren't I always?" she shot back.

A quick smile passed over my face as I left the gym and returned to my quarters to get some rest.

**Sorry this is a lot shorter than normal, I just wanted to get this part out of the way. It's important to later chapters.**

**Next chapter should be up in a week at most.**

**Please review.**


	14. Recon

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 13

Recon

**AN: New rule. I don't make any promises about when I update this story. It hasn't worked out as planned so far.**

23rd February 2531

Unidentified Forerunner Shield World

Brown, brown and more brown. That's all that could be seen out of the back of the Pelican I was sitting in. Forge had gotten himself into some trouble with the Covenant and Red Team was being sent in to help him out. I was sitting in one of the seats closest to the exit of the troop bay. I was spoiling for a fight with the Covenant, but I was also worried. This was the first time the UNSC would encounter the Flood, but also the first time I would see them outside of the games. This was a real problem for me. I knew the usual strategies for dealing with them. Aim for the chest of the Combat Forms, spray into swarms of Infection forms, avoid the ones that explode and spread more Infection Forms. But this was now real life. The Flood could be completely different to what I'd seen in the games. And even if they were the same, I'd have to deal with the forms that were only in _Halo Wars_. I vaguely remembered some sort of massive tentacle thing that would pick up infantry and smash them off the ground. Would a SPARTAN-II in Mark IV MJOLNIR armour survive it? I didn't want to test it.

I was jerked out of my thoughts by the pilot's voice. "Almost at the LZ, Spartans. Get ready!" she shouted back to us. I looked out of the rear end of the Pelican just in time to see us fly over a UNSC Elephant under attack by a Covenant force. The brief amount of time it took for the Pelican to fly over the firefight was enough to let me see how well the UNSC was doing compared to the Covenant. It wasn't pretty. Out of the five marine squads that Forge had went in with, there were only two remaining. I could see dozens of dead marines and even though there were a lot more dead Covenant, things weren't going our way. While the UNSC force had consisted mainly of infantry squads (and the Elephant), the Covenant had brought along a few vehicles to the party. It wasn't anything too much, like a few Wraiths, the few Brute Choppers were enough to give the marines a hard time. The rest of the Covenant force was made up mainly of Grunts with a few Brutes leading them.

As we were coming in over the Covenant's possession, the Pelican started coming under fire. It wasn't too much, just a few Plasma Rifles and a Brute Shot were being used against us. It would take some time for the Pelican to take any serious damage, but it wouldn't be safe to try and land with the fire used against us.

"Pilot, get out of here, we'll jump," Jerome shouted over the sound of the enemy's firepower.

"Can do, Spartans! Good luck!" the pilot yelled back.

The Pelican hovered ten metres above the ground for a few seconds while we leapt out of the back. My armour pulled me down to the ground in seconds. Rolling to absorb the impact of the landing, I pulled out my new Battle Rifle. As the rest of Red Team hit the ground behind me, I raised my rifle and fired at the first Brute that I saw. Two bursts took it down and I switched to another, killing that one with another two bursts. Red Team had quickly gotten to their feet after the jump and were laying into the Covenant infantry with extreme prejudice. Of course, that still left the Choppers to deal with. As soon as we started tearing through the Covenant infantry, they turned to face this new threat. The Choppers immediately turned to face us and started to fire their explosive autocannons. Thankfully we were at a distance from them, so the shots went wide. We were easily able to avoid them. As soon as the drivers realised that their plan wasn't working, they boosted towards us, attempting to run us over. As Spartans, it didn't take much to avoid this attack. I probably could have tried jumping on the Chopper like I had with the Ghost back on Arcadia, but there was barely any room for me to land on it. If I missed the jump, then I might have ended up losing a leg from the massive blades at the front of the vehicle. It was definitely safest for me to simply dive out of the way. As soon as I was back on my feet, I swung my rifle around and fired two quick bursts at the Brute driving the Chopper, killing it. The other Chopper was destroyed by a rocket from Douglas. There were a few Grunts left, blindly panicking at the deaths of their leaders. A few bursts from my rifle finished them off.

"Nice of you to show up, Spartans," Forge said over the radio. "Hold position, we're coming to you." Forge, the remaining marines and the Elephant then started moving towards us. As soon as they reached our position, as distress call came over the radio.

"This is Recon Team ECHO! We are under attack! Not Covenant, repeat, _not _Covenant! We're being overrun!" The transmission turned into static at that point.

"Recon Team ECHO! Do you read me!" Forge shouted over the radio. The static on the radio channel vanished for a few seconds before cutting out again, but what we heard over the connection was chilling. The marine on the other end was screaming. I didn't know if it was in pain or horror at what he was seeing. Probably a bit of both.

Serina's voice came over the radio. "ECHO's signs are offline. Quite suddenly too."

Just at that moment, another distress call came in over the radio. As I guessed, it was the other recon team, IDNIA.

"Spirit! This is INDIA! They've...they've taken over...get us..." The marine on the other side was cut off, dead or turned, I didn't know.

"INDIA's signs are offline too. How very ominous," Serina spoke over the radio.

Captain Cutter then decided to give new orders. "Sergeant Forge, find out what happened to the other recon teams."

"Understood, Captain. Let's move people!" At that, we started moving towards the last known position of the recon teams. Time seemed to drag on for ages as we marched. Logically I knew that we had only been marching for a few minutes at most, but the always present threat of the Flood was out there. We hadn't come across them yet but it was only a matter of time. I was practically jumping at every sound that seemed out of place. As we continued to our objective, Alice opened a private com channel to me.

"Kevin, are you OK? You seem a bit jumpy." she asked.

Things had been a bit strained between us since our brief argument on the _Spirit of Fire, _so I was surprised she was worrying about me too much.

"I'm fine," I replied. "This place just seems strange."

"What do you mean by strange?"

I was a lot more careful with my words this time. "Why haven't we seen any more Covenant? I thought they would have taken Anders to somewhere more heavily guarded."

"We haven't reached her yet, remember?"

"But wouldn't the system they took her to have at least a few ships there? How many are here? Only one that we know of. "

"Good point. Anyway, what's the worst thing that could be out there?"

_'A parasitic organism that wants to consume all sentient life in the universe.' _I thought, barely stopping myself from saying it out loud. Just at that point we reached a crossroads. Sort of. The path split in two directions. Checking my HUD, I saw that ECHO was down the right path, while INDIA was down the left path.

"OK, lets split up here," Forge said over the radio. "Spartans, check out what happened to INDIA. Everyone else, follow me to ECHO."

"Affirmative," Jerome said over the radio. "Let's get going Spartans."

As we headed down the path to INDIA, I took a quick look back at the marines and the Elephant. It was going to be 13 marines and an Elephant against hordes of Flood. I hoped they would survive.

Separate from the slower marines and the Elephant, we were able to move a lot faster towards INDIA. In less than a minute we reached the last known location of INDIA. Scattered around the area were a few signal flares. Obviously the marines had attempted to get the attention of any UNSC air units once they lost radio contact with us.

"Signal flares," Douglas said. "We're close."

It didn't take too much longer to get to the recon team's Elephant. When we did, there wasn't anything else in sight. There was just the Elephant. No dead bodies, Flood or Marines.

"What-" I started to ask, before being cut off by a piercing scream. As one, we all spun around to the source of the cry.

Coming down from a cliff was an enormous wave of Flood.

**Leaving you on a bit of a cliffhanger there. Why? Why not!**

**Review Responses**

**KafeiDetour: Good to hear you're enjoying it.**

**whitewolfleader: What makes you think this story is over? I have six story arcs planned for this, and I'm only half way through the second. I'm not done yet.**

**And now for some bad news. I have decided to return to school for another two years to complete A-Levels (****http : / en. wikipedia. org / wiki / GCE_Advanced_Level _(REMOVE SPACES)_****). This will take a lot of ****work and as a result I will have very little time left for writing. So expect the time between updates to go from weeks to months. I'll write when I can, but until the story is completed or I complete my A-Levels (whichever comes first) this story is not high on my list of priorities. If you think I'm ignoring this story, just PM me to make sure I'm not dead.**


	15. Holdout

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 14

Holdout

**AN: Just trying to get out another chapter before school starts.**

The enormous wave of Flood falling down towards us was, without a doubt, _the _most frightening thing I had ever seen. The vast majority of the Flood forms were Infection Forms, the little green balloons with tentacles. All the rest were Combat Forms of a variety of species. Most were Brutes, but there were a few with the distinct split-lips of Elites. The last of the Combat Forms had neither the four mandibles of Elites or the massive build of Brutes. Those were the human forms, the marines of Recon Team INDIA that had been overwhelmed by the Flood.

"Get to the Elephant!" Jerome roared over the Flood's cries. He didn't need to tell any of us twice. As soon as he had finished, we all turned as one and ran back to the Elephant. It was almost laughable. Four SPARTAN-IIs, running as fast as we could, like little girls. None of us had time to laugh though. For us this was a matter of life and death. If we couldn't reach the Elephant ahead of the deluge of the parasite, we'd _become _them. I shivered at the thought. That was something I did _not _want to happen to me. Or any human. The Covenant, I couldn't give a single fuck about.

Thankfully, we were able to reach the Elephant without any trouble. As soon as we were on board it, Douglas closed the ramp into the vehicle. I was breathing heavily from my brief run. It wasn't because I was tired. A short run like that wouldn't be anywhere near enough to tire a Spartan. It was fear. The situation I'd found myself in for the past six years had suddenly became so much more real. Some small part of me had been sure that it was all just a game, but the Flood's sudden attack had changed that. Everything I faced here was completely, one hundred percent real. If I wasn't careful, I would end up as just another host for the Flood. No 'checkpoint', no 'Restart Mission', just death.

Jerome immediately got to work. It was a good thing he was Red Leader instead of me. My mind was full of thoughts about the Flood. Part of me wanted to just lie back and accept defeat. As soon as that thought came to me it was gone. I was a Spartan. Spartans _do not_ lie back and accept defeat.

"_Spirit of Fire,_ this is Red One. We are under attack by unknown hostiles. Request reinforcements. ASAP."

"Roger that," Captain Cutter said over the radio. "ODSTs are inbound. Hold out for a few minutes."

"Understood, Captain. Red Team, out." Jerome then turned to us. "Red Team, get up top to the turrets. We'll be able to use them to hold off the... things out there." I didn't like this, but it wasn't my place to question orders. I reached up to the roof access hatch of the Elephant and opened it. Immediately I jumped up through the hatch and landed on the roof of the vehicle. Taking a quick look around, I saw the three turrets on the Elephant. Rushing to the nearest one, I grabbed the handles and turned it towards the nearest Flood forms, opening fire on them.

My first shots hit a few Infection Forms. Just like in the games, killing one of them caused some of the one near it to die as well. The Elephant's roof was too high up for the Infection Forms to reach easily, so I turned my attention to the nearest Combat Forms. Just like I would have done in the games, I aimed for the chest of the shambling creatures. The armour piercing bullets of the turret ripped through the rotting flesh of the Flood easily. This was a lot easier than I had expected. The Flood just threw themselves at us, trying to defeat us with their greater numbers. It wasn't going too well for them. They still had the greater numbers but four SPARTAN-IIs using turrets were beating them back. For now.

Suddenly there was another enormous scream, and an even larger wave of Flood came over the edge of the crater the Elephant was parked in. This was just getting better all the time. As soon as I thought that, the turret I was using started clicking. Empty. I expected that, but I didn't think it would have happened this fast.

"Fuck!" I swore. "Turret's out." Immediately, I drew my dual SMGs holstered on my magnetic thigh plates. After tossing a frag grenade into the growing horde of Flood, I opened fire on the crowd. The SMG rounds smashed into the parasites, pushing some of the back a few steps and killing others. The ammo in my clips quickly ran out. I was starting to panic. As fast as I could, I reloaded my SMGs and sprayed into the ever approaching horde. That was all it had become. Spray and pray.

Inevitably, I went to reload my SMGs, only to find that I had ran out of ammo for them. Swearing again, I attached my SMGs to the thigh plates and drew my Battle Rifle. I had to take greater care with my aim now. Every pull of the trigger sent three rounds into either a Combat Form's chest or an Infection Form, taking out the ones closest to it as well.

Soon enough, the rest of Red Team ran out of ammo for their turrets and were forced to switch to their own dual SMGs. Except for Alice. Her backpack was still half full (at least!) with armour piercing bullets for her own turret. That was when things started getting really ugly. With only one turret unloading rounds into the advancing Flood, they started to get even closer. Just at that moment, eight fireballs could be seen in the air, falling down to our position. The ODSTs were on their way. For the first time since the Flood began their assault, I actually felt as if we would get out of this mess alive.

The eight ODST pods hit the ground around the Elephant. Almost at the same time, the doors were blown off their hinges, smashing into the back of the horde. That split the Flood up. While most of them went to deal with these new arrivals, the pressure against Red Team lessened. It didn't take too much longer to finish off the remaining Flood offensive against us. As soon as we finished off the Flood attack the Elephant, Jerome gave the order to assist the ODSTs against their much larger threat. With bullets hitting the Flood from in front and behind, it didn't take much longer to finish them off.

Once the last Combat Form fell, I took a look around to see how the ODSTs had fared against this new foe. Out of the eight that had dropped in, there were six remaining. Any loss to the Flood was bad, but things could have been a lot worse. Like, 'four dead SPARTAN-IIs' worse.

"No time to chat, ladies" one of the ODSTs said. I assumed he was the leader of this squad, both from his tone and words. "Let's get this thing moving again. Double time!" Immediately, we all ran back to the Elephant. We weren't in any danger, but it was safe to say that more Flood would be coming. At the very least we would be protected inside the massive vehicle. The ODSTs were first into the Elephant. However, Jerome stopped us from entering it.

"Let's guard against any more more of those things. Give the ODSTs time to fix the Elephant," he ordered. As the troopers in the Elephant worked to fix the vehicle, Red Team stood guard. But there was nothing to guard against. The five minutes it took for the ODSTs to get the Elephant moving dragged on for what seemed like hours. The constant threat of the Flood was starting to affect me.

Eventually, the ODSTs managed to get the Elephant's engines working. The moment that happened, Red Team practically ran into the safety of the vehicle's interior. The exit ramp closed behind us, sealing us off from any Flood that were outside. We weren't out of danger yet, though. We still had to get the Elephant back to the _Spirit of Fire._ And that meant wading through the Flood that stood in our way. I wasn't sure if the Flood here had a Gravemind, but even if they didn't, getting beaten back like we had just done was going to piss off what little governing intelligence the parasite had.

Jerome then opened communications with Sergeant Forge. Thankfully, they hadn't had to fight too many Flood forms and had suffered very few casualties. We agreed that we would meet up where we had split up and get back to the ship from there.

The first half of our journey to meet up with Sergeant Forge went rather uneventfully. No Flood forms of any kind were seen as we slowly mad our way to the rendezvous point. The Elephant's weapon lockers didn't have any SMG ammo, so instead I grabbed an assault rifle. Not the MA5C from _Halo 3 _that I preferred. It was too early in the war, so I had to make do with the MA5B. I had nearly twice the bullets to fire before needing to reload, but it was a lot less accurate at longer ranges. I would prefer to be as far away a possible if I had to fight the Flood. I was running low on ammo for my Battle Rifle, so I grabbed a few extra magazines for it. Finally, I took a few grenades from the locker and attached them to my waist. If I had to fight the Flood again, I would be ready for them.

It couldn't have went perfectly forever. Soon enough I heard the cry of the Flood and knew that they were coming back for more. Jerome was ready too.

"Four, you're coming up with me. Two, Three, you take control of the remote turrets from in here," Jerome ordered. Douglas and Alice quickly took their places at the controls for the turrets while Jerome and me climbed up through the roof hatch. As soon as I had reached the roof, I saw what we were up against. The swarm of Flood that was chasing us was fairly large, but it was nowhere near the size of the swarm that had nearly overwhelmed Red Team only minutes earlier. The slow speed of the Elephant, combined with the Flood's seemingly infinite stamina meant that it would catch up with us before we reached the rendezvous point.

Once I had finished sizing up the Flood chasing us, I drew my Battle Rifle. I planned to use it for as long as possible before the Flood caught up with us. Or I ran out of ammo. Whichever came first. Aiming down the scope of my rifle, I took aim at the first Combat Form I noticed. As I'd noticed earlier in Red Team's holdout, the game's strategy of aiming for the chest of a Combat Form worked against the Flood here. One quick pull of the trigger sent three rounds straight into the Infection Form controlling the corpse. The decomposing body was caught up in the mass of Flood Forms chasing us. The amount of Infection Forms I had seen in the crowd meant that the body was almost certainly reanimated, but I preferred seeing a downed Combat Form rise again than watching an ally fall to the parasite.

Every pull of the trigger I made caused a Combat Form to fall, only to rise again somewhere in the horde. As soon as I made a hit on the Infection Form controlling the bodies, my aim snapped to another in a different part of the horde. I was aware of Jerome standing beside me, firing at the advancing swarm with a sniper rifle he had grabbed while we were inside the Elephant. _'The SRS99C-S2 AM variant_,' a small voice in the back of my head said. The information implanted in me about UNSC weapons back when I had arrived in this universe had a habit of sticking its head up occasionally. If I remembered the games properly, this sniper rifle would remain in use by the UNSC Marines until near the end of 2552. In the games, a sniper rifle was a useless weapon against the Flood, but in reality it was just as good as any other weapon. If the person wielding it had some skill. The same could be said for any weapon that took a lot of ammo to take down a Combat Form. A single bullet (or burst of plasma) to the Infection Form embedded in a Combat Form's chest would knock it out of the fight until an Infection Form showed up or the body was destroyed. Whichever happened faster.

Inevitably, Jerome started to run low on ammo for his sniper rifle. The Flood was still a considerable distance away, so it seemed safe for him to take a quick jump down into the Elephant to get more ammo. That cost us dearly. Almost immediately after he climbed back down, a number of Combat Forms leapt down onto the roof of the Elephant from a cliff we were passing by. The moment I noticed the red dots on my motion tracker, I turned to face the falling Flood forms. My mind momentarily flashed back to the massive wave that had fallen on Red Team earlier. Quickly raising my Battle Rifle, I started firing at the chests of the Flood. I managed to take down a few of them, but most made it through. Knowing that I wouldn't have time to aim properly, I instead used the rifle as a club, swinging it around to knock them back. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't enough. One of the Combat Forms ducked under one of my swings and made a swing of its own for me. The strength of the Form was incredible. I'd taken a bit of a beating from a Brute before, but this was much stronger. The strike sent me flying off the Elephant towards the cliff at its side. The unexpected force of the Combat Form's strike combined with me smashing into the massive rock wall was enough to knock me unconscious.

The last thing I saw as everything turned black was a large number of Infection Forms crawling towards me.

**Is leaving you with a massive cliffhanger like this for potentially a few months the biggest dick move ever made? Almost certainly yes.**


	16. Awakening

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 15

Awakening

**AN: First thing to say, I'm really sorry this took so long. My computer's still broken, but I've found a way around it. I won't bore you all with the details. Hopefully a longer chapter will make it up to you after this long break.**

The first thing I noticed as I regained consciousness was a throbbing pain in the back of my head. That was certainly a result of me smashing off the cliff the Elephant had been travelling past. The next thing I noticed was a steady beeping sound. I hadn't been in hospitals too often in my life, but I knew the sound of a heart monitor. I assumed that the Flood I had seen advancing towards me when I blacked out hadn't been able to infect me. Or they had. I didn't know what happened to a person's mind once they became infected. Did they end up living on forever as a Flood form or did their souls pass on to whatever afterlife there was? Did we just cease to exist, neither living on as a part of the Flood or heading off to an afterlife? If I had been changed into one of the Flood, then it was possible that Red Team had captured what was once me to try and find out what the parasite was. But was I Spartan or was I Flood? Better find out.

I screwed my eyes shut as light entered the for the first time in hours (days, weeks?). While a Spartan's enhanced eyesight was a benefit in darkened battlegrounds, going from darkness into bright light left us temporaraly vulnerable. Thankfully the period was much smaller than that of a normal human's, but a vulnerablity is still a vulnerability, Spartan or not.

The moment I could see clearly, I knew that I was fine. I was lying in a hospital bed, skin just the same tone as ever. There were no patches of rotting flesh and, as a quick check proved, _nothing_ had fallen off. It looked like my armour had been able to protect me from the parasite long enough for my team to recover me.

I was just about to get out of bed when the door to the medical bay slid open. In through the door walked a person I wasn't too surprised to see. It looked like Professer Anders had been recovered while I was out of the fight. But how much had I missed?

"Professer," I greeted her.

"Spartan," she said in response.

"So, what have I missed?"

"Not much. You've been unconscious for about two days." That did not sound good. I wasn't sure how much time passed between the missions in Halo Wars. It could have only been a few hours between each, which meant that I could have missed the final missions of the game. But if it was days between each one, then I had a chance to save Forge from having to sacrifice himself. No-one would know about my contribution, small as it would be. Simply put, knowing what was going to come, humanity would need good squad leaders. And Forge is one of the best.

"And what's happened while I was out?" I asked her. She then proceded to give me a brief summary of what I'd missed out on. After a brief battle with the Flood, the Spirit of Fire had went inside the planet. That had genuinely surprised me. Like I've said before, it's been six years since I even saw the games. You can expect a few of the details to have slipped my mind. Anyway, shortly after that Anders had been able to escape from the Covenant and managed to make her way to UNSC forces. From there she had come up with the idea of destroying the planet using the Spirit of Fire's Slipspace drive in order to stop the Covenant from being able to use the Forerunner fleet that had lain dormant here for millennia (forgot to mention that, didn't I). Then she stopped.

"Well, what happened next?" I asked.

"We're about to find out," she said with a smile. "The rest of the Spartans and UNSC forces are getting the Slipspace drive to the planet's core." I froze at her words. As the Gravemind would say nearly 20 years later "There is still time to stop the key from turning." I still had the chance to save Forge from a death that would, in the end, acomplish very little in the war.

Immediately I began to get out of the bed I had been in for two days. The fact that I was completely naked made no difference. What I had to do was more important than a brief moment of nudity. "I have to get to them," I said. Anders appeared to have other ideas.

"Not happening," she said sternly. "I don't know as much about you Spartans as _her_ (quite obviously Halsey, as could be heard from her disgusted tone) but you still need to recover from your injuries." She was right. Even the smallest movement sent small bursts of pain across my body. But I couldn't leave Red Team and Forge to do this alone. I had to help them.

"You clearly don't understand Spartans," I said as I got dressed. "We're more than just soldiers. We're a family. And I won't leave my family to fight alone. Not while I can still stand."As soon as I was in my armour's undersuit (which, thankfully, had been left in the medical bay) I turned to her and glared into her eyes. For a moment we just stood there, waiting to see who would back down first. However, I had something Anders didn't. She might have had the superior intellect, but few people were able to stand a Spartan's gaze for too long.

"Fine," she said. "You can go down. But I will _not_ accept any responsibility for any injuries you suffer down there. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly," I said as I brushed past her. Immediately, I began my journey to the armoury to get the rest of my armour. As I made my way towards the armoury, I heard another voice.

"Are you really sure you should be going down there?"

I turned to face the speaker, seeing Serina's avatar on a nearby hologram projector.

"You heard what I said to Anders. Spartans are family to each other. I won't abandon them."

"But is family worth risking death?" she asked. I glared at her hologram. I shouldn't have been angry with her. AIs didn't technically have families, so I shouldn't blane her for not understanding.

"Yes, it is." I then gave a sly smirk. "Anyway, there's no guarantee that this plan will work, even with three Spartans. Shouldn't you sent me as well, just to be safe?" Serina was quiet for a few seconds. An AI could perform thousands, maybe millions of calculations per second. A few seconds in real time was probably feel like hours for the AI. Eventually she sighed.

"There'll be a Pelican waiting in the hanger when you're ready." Once she finished talking, her hologram vanished. Once again, I turned and headed for the armoury.

I encountered very few people on my way to the armoury. It appeared that Captain Cutter had decided this opperation was of the utmost importance and left the ship with only a skeleton crew. The few crew members I saw on my way were rushing around to whatever duties they were assigned to. None of them even made a second glance at me just in my MJOLNIR undersuit. The stories of the Flood had probably been spread around the ship by marines who couldn't keep their mouths shut. It would have been better that the majority of the crew were kept in the dark about what was on the surface of (or inside) the planet.

The armoury technicians had clearly been alerted to my arrival, as they leapt to their feet the moment I entered the room. Immediately they began assembling the armour around me. Due to the current situation, the techs had the armour on in record time, just under five minutes. As soon as I was encased in the armour, I grabbed a Battle Rifle and an MA5B Assault Rifle. I knew that I would need all the firepower I could get my hands on, so I ignored the normal one two-handed weapon strategy used by most footsoldiers in the UNSC, including many Spartans. I stood with an M6D Pistol in my right hand and an SMG in my left, trying to decide which one I should bring. The SMG could fire more bullets, but the Pistol was much stronger. Then I put the pair if the weapons on my magnetic plates on my thighs, choosing to have the best of both. Once I had made my decision I grabbed eight frag grenades and attached them to my belt. As much as I had hated their use in multiplayer, it was hard to go wrong with a few grenades. Immediately after grabbing as much ammo as I could carry for each of my weapons, I rushed down to the hanger and my waiting Pelican.

When I entered the hanger, there was only one Pelican there. The rest were surely being used to transport troops and supplies around the battlefield. I thought that I was going to have to fly myself down before I noticed the pilot waiting for my arrival.

"Good to see you made it out of there in one piece, sir," she said. I was confused for a moment before rembering the pilot. It was the same one that had dropped Red Team off to help Forge.

"Likewise, pilot. You have your orders?"

She nodded. "Fly you down to the rest of the Spartans and get back to making my supply runs."

"Well, you'd better get started then," I said as I climbed into the Pelican. I decided to remain standing, mainly due to the fact that standing up to get out of the Pelican would waste time that could be used killing aliens. Yeah, it would take less than second for me to stand up, but a Spartan could do a lot in one second when compared with a normal human.

The back of the Pelican remained open as I was flown down to Red Team. The view was something I was never going to forget. I'd seen many planets from orbit, and while that was an incredible sight even six years after I'd first seen it, there was no way it could compare to what I saw at that moment. It was as if someone had painted an incredibly detailed landscape on the inside of a ball and I had stepped inside it. It was so beautiful that it felt like only seconds had passed when the pilot told me that we were almost at Red Team's location. I barely noticed her.

Eventually, the Pelican began to slow down, showing that I was about to land. Ignoring the sight of the inside of the planet above me, I made a final check of my weapons, making sure they were in working order. Obviously I didn't fire them, but I quickly took them apart and made sure they were completely clean before sticking them back together again. Soon the Pelican passed over an enormous grey structure, one that I immediately recognised as Forerunner. If you didn't count the planet we were inside, it was the first Forerunner structure I had seen. It looked like a simple grey pyramid, but with the top of it stretching a couple of hundred meters into the air. At the base of the structure (and what was clearly the enterance) I could see a massive force of Covenant defending the area. The aliens were engaged in a desparate struggle against the attacking UNSC. The two sides in the fight seemed evenly matched. That was going to change soon as the UNSC was about to get another Spartan. Admittedly, I wasn't in the best condition, but I could still do a lot more damage than a normal human. The Covenant had noticed the Pelican flying over their heads and began firing at it. Most of the shots were missing completely, but if I took that as a sign that I was safe then I would soon be dead.

I took a quick look outside the Pelican to see how high off the ground I was. It looked like I was about twenty metres off the ground. A fall of that distance would do quite a bit of damage to a normal human, but it wasn't a problem for a fully armoured SPARTAN-II. I rushed to the cockpit and told the pilot, "I'm jumping out here. Get back to your supply run!"

The pilot just nodded and said "Good luck, sir!" I barely heard her over the sound of the battle outside and because I had already turned to the rear of the Pelican. Taking a deep breath, I ran the short distance to the exit and leapt from the ship.

I seemed to hang in the air for a few seconds as the large yellow dot on my motion tracker that represented the Pelican disappeared. I could see the mass of Covenant below me. I needed to clear a landing space, so I grabbed a pair of grenades and tossed them down into the crowd. The grenades hit the ground and exploded, tearing most of the aliens around them to pieces. Taking my pistol in my hand, I fired down at the enemies, targeting the Elites who had lost their shields because of my grenades first before aiming for any Jackals that could cause trouble for the Marines later.

Ten metres from the ground and I had emptied my pistol magazine. Instead of reloading it I stuck it back onto my thigh plate and drew my MA5B. I landed roughly on the ground, but I didn't waste any time. Immediately, I had started moving to avoid the shots that were coming my way. Not for the first time I wished that the Mark IV had energy shields. But wishing wasn't going to get me anywhere. Energy shields were put into MJOLNIR only a few years before the main trilogy, so I would have to survive without them. For about 20 years. Sucks to be me.

It looked like I had chosen a bad place to drop in to the battle at. All around me there were dozens of aliens. No sane man would willingly go into a situation like this. But, then again, Spartans are more than just men (and women). I used my speed, strength and improved accuracy to my advantage, moving all around the place, smashing in heads and blowing holes in any enemy I saw. But even with every Covenant soldier I took down, it seemed like another two took its place. I was slowly being overwhelmed. My movements were slowing as time passed. I hadn't given myself long enough to recover from my injuries and was now suffering for it. Just as I thought I was going to die, the waves of enemies slowed and eventually stopped. It turned out that while I was fighting right in the middle of the Covenant, the rest of the UNSC forces were able to fight through the rest of them. I looked around as I stood in the middle of an enourmous pile of dead aliens. I smiled under my helmet. Even with vastly superior numbers, the Covenant hadn't been able to kill one Spartan.

Looking over to the rest of the UNSC forces, I saw three Spartans head towards me. Red Team. I walked up towards Jerome and saluted. "Red Four, reporting for duty," I said.

"Coming here was reckless," he snapped. "I thought you should have known better." He glared at me for a few seconds. Then he relaxed. "Thanks," he said.

I smiled under my helmet. "Couldn't let you have all the fun," I replied. "Let's get moving." Immediatly we turned to face the enormous Forerunner building and saw the Slipspace drive being taken into it. That was going to destroy this world and the Flood on it. Even if the spare parts that Halsey had placed on the _Spirit of Fire_ wouldn't work and we were trapped in deep space for God knows how long, it would be worth it. And if we did get back, then the UNSC would be ready for fighting the Flood at the end of the war. It was really a win-win situation. Just how much win still had to be decided.

A few minutes later, the Slipspace drive had been put through the massive teleporter linking the core to the rest of the planet. Sergeant Forge and a few other marines were with us to help set up the drive. We found ourselves on a platform floating in front of the Forerunner fleet that the Covenant wanted. Even knowing that this was Forerunner technology, it was still disturbing seeing the platform floating miles over the ground. The fact that there were clouds beneath us was really worrying. If any of us went over the edge, we'd be falling for a really long time. The marines stared at the ships for a few seconds before remembering where they were, and got to work preparing the Slipspace drive.

Things went well for about ten minutes. The marines were well on their way to having the _Spirit's_ engine ready to use as a bomb. But it would have been far too much to ask that the Covenant would just give up. Without warning, a squad of Elites came through the teleporter and began to attack us. They were high ranking ones too. Elite Honor Guards. Their red armour with strange yellow symbols on them was unmistakable. It looked like the Covenant thought that sending their high ranking soldiers in first was going to take us down quickly. It was time to show them just how wrong they were.

The massive bursts of plasma they were sending our way forced us into cover. Immediately, I drew my M6D and pointed it round the corner, activating the scope. My view switched from the Slipspace drive I was looking at to what could be seen through the pistol's scope. Not for the first time I was greatful for the fact that each scope on a weapon was smart-linked to my visor. I could see clearly what was facing us. Most of the Elites stayed where they were in two lines, each one alternating between firing at us and waiting for their weapons to cool down. While they did that, a smaller group was advancing towards us. Each of them wielded a Plasma Rifle in one had and an Energy Sword in the other. Occasionally they would let out a brief burst of plasma from their rifles. While they were doing that, Red Team began to open fire on the attackers. The marines just kept working on the Slipspace drive. Doubtless they had been in a similar situation before. Well, working while under fire anyway. They had clearly never had to convert a Slipspace drive into a bomb while on a floating platform they reached by going through a teleporter in the centre of a planet infected by a semi-sentient paraside constructed by a now extinct alien race. But my point is, they kept on working, despite how bat-shit crazy the situation was.

The M6D was just as strong here as it was in the games. Admittedly, you could never fight Elite Honor Guards with the M6D, but based on Elites I'd fought before, it seemed to do the same damage. It took six shots to take down one Honor Guard, meaning I could kill two with one clip. I quickly checked my remaining ammo for it while reloading. I had ten clips left, which, assuming all my shots hit, would get me twenty kills. But none of the Elites I had seen on this planet was the Arbiter. I was going to need to save my pistol for him. Once I came to that desicion, I stuck my pistol back onto my leg.

Pulling out my MA5B, I waited for a pause in the rain of plasma before leaning out and opening fire on the advancing Elites. I watched out of the corner of my eye as the readout on the rifle rapidly fell from 60. I'd reached 30 bullets left in my clip before the onslaught forced me back into cover. I momentarily considered reloading before deciding to keep the clip in. I'd be able to use up the rest of it next time I got the chance.

The battle went on like that for a while. We'd been able to force the advancing Elites into cover, but the ones at the back were still raining down plasma on us. Taking a quick look out of cover before I was forced back in, I estimated the distance from our cover to the Elites to be about 20 metres. Would a grenade reach them before exploding? Probably.

I waited for another pause in the onslaught before pulling the pins of two grenades and tossing them as fast as I could down to the Elites at the back. Just as the grenades reached them, they exploded. The close range detonations killed some of them, their energy shields useless against a close attack. Those who weren't killed were knocked off their feet, going over the edge of the platform to fall to their deaths.

With the Elites keeping us trapped in cover dead we were able to finish off the rest of them with little trouble. But just as the last one fell another group arrived through the teleporter. This group was larger than the first, but none of them were any higher ranked than a Major. The numbers would be a problem, but we could still beat them. As I prepared to open fire on the new group, I heard a large roar coming from behind us. Turning to face the source, I saw the Arbiter tearing into the marines. I quickly informed Jerome of my intention to deal with this new threat before rushing towards the massive Elite.

**Finally (and don't expect me to do this too often) a story recommedation. If you have an interest in Legend of Zelda fanfics, then check out _The Legend of Zelda: Time Gate_ by _Uzuki Cheverie_. It's definately one of the best LoZ stories I've seen on the site.**


	17. Pain Redefined

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 16

Pain Redefined

**AN: Well, I've got a computer again, so updates should be coming out faster than before. Not as fast as when I started, but no more month long delays. Hopefully.**

**Also, this chapter marks the end of my second of six planned story arcs for SITW. So that's something to celebrate.**

I rushed towards the marines being attacked by the Arbiter, only to find all but one dead. Fortunately, Forge wasn't one of them. _Unfortunately_, the enormous Elite had him by the throat, ready to impale him on his energy sword.

Immediately, I grabbed my pistol and fired at him, being careful not to hit Forge. The three shots I fired didn't do any damage to him, due to his energy shields. That was enough to turn the Arbiter's attention from Forge to me.

With a quick flick of his arm, the Elite threw Forge to the ground. I didn't know if it was hard enough to kill the marine, but it was enough to knock him unconscious. I half-expected to be impaled by the dual energy swords that the Arbiter wielded. Imagine my shock when he decided to talk.

"So, I finally get to face a Demon," he said in his rough voice. Another surprise was when he threw one of his energy swords towards me. Deactivated. I snatched the handle out of the air and looked at it, a confused expression on my face. Looking back towards the Elite, I saw his mandibles twitch it what could be seen as a smile. "I've heard stories of you Demons. How you can tear through entire Covenant battalions single-handed. Let's see if the tales are true." And with that he activated his one remaining blade and rushed at me.

Moving completely on instinct, I leapt to the side to avoid his first attack. I doubted that I would have been able to hold back the force of the first attack. Wasting no time, I turned on the blade that I had been given and moved to stab the alien in the back. Not quite the most honourable way to fight, but I really didn't care. I had a mission to do, and would do whatever I needed to do to complete it. I wasn't fast enough. The Arbiter swung his blade around, forcing me to change the direction I moved my blade in just to avoid becoming a Spartan-kebab. The fight continued like that for a while, the enormous alien making quick attacks, forcing me on the defensive at just about every turn. I was able to make a few strikes of my own, but they did very little damage, more shallow cuts than anything else. If I had hoped to anger him and make him reckless, I would have been disappointed. The bastard was staying completely calm. There was little time for me to check on Forge. The impact could have done serious damage to him. He could be dead or dying, and I was stuck here fighting this enormous example of an Elite. It was getting _really_ annoying, having to duel him. Almost nothing I did was able to break through his defence, while he kept slipping small attacks through my defences. A slice here, a cut there. They did almost nothing on there own, but they added up, and eventually I would make a serious mistake.

Of course, knowing my own CQB skills, it didn't take long for that to happen. Beginning to panic, I made the serious error of looking over my shoulder to see how the rest of Red Team were doing, hoping that one of them would be rushing back to help me. Because of that, I didn't see the Arbiter make a lunge for me. I turned back to see the Elite swinging his sword towards my head. Reacting quickly, I tried to step backwards, but I wasn't fast enough. The energy sword passed through my helmet, tearing through my right eye. That quick backwards step had saved me from being stabbed through the head, but it wasn't enough to save me from any damage. But the Arbiter wasn't done with me yet. Making a quick twist with his sword arm, he swung his blade down through my left arm, cutting it off at the elbow.

Pain exploded at my elbow. It's hard to describe what I felt at the time. The sudden loss of a limb, combined with the fact that energy swords _fucking hurt_ meant that my mind was temporarily overloaded with pain. I hadn't been focusing on the battle with the Elite, and now I was paying the price.

I must have blacked out at some point, because the next thing I remembered was seeing the Arbiter face close to my visor. _Too close_ I might add. His hand had a tight grip on my throat. Not tight enough for me to start choking, but uncomfortable all the same. And coming from a Spartan, that's _really_ saying something. He was gloating, bragging about defeating me to my face. I was only just able to catch the end of his monologue.

My body was completely limp, my arms and legs dangling as the Elite held me up, ready to kill me with a single swipe of his sword. "...a worthless creature, completely without honour," he was saying. My remaining arm brushed against my pistol on my thigh. Immediately, even injured as I was, I knew what to do.

"Honourless," I was able to cough out, "and proud of it." The alien's eyes widened in surprise at my words, clearly still believing I was unconscious. I didn't give him enough time to react, as I snatched the pistol from its magnetic holster and pressed it tight against his neck. Immediately, I opened fire.

There's very little that can withstand a barrage of shots from an M6D at close range. An Elite's throat is not one of them. With my pistol pressed against his neck, there was nothing his shields could do to stop the assault. I got three shots out before I was dropped onto the ground, but those three shots were more than enough to kill him. I fell down onto my back, staring up at the Elite as he fell on top of me, clutching at his throat in a vain attempt to keep his blood in his body. I barely noticed. It was taking every last bit of my willpower to stay conscious. Thankfully, I wasn't loosing any blood. No-one who was cut with an energy sword ever did. Even so, I was fighting a loosing battle.

The last thing I remembered before slipping into blackness was someone calling out my name.

**Interlude**

**I wasn't sure what happened to me. I was lying on a bed in almost complete darkness. I tried to move, but I couldn't do anything, no matter how hard I tried. I looked over my shoulder, seeing in the dim light that my arms had been tied together behind my back. Yes, arms. Plural. Somehow, I now had two arms, despite clearly remembering that I had lost one only moments ago. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, the contents of the room became clear to me. Yes, eyes. Another plural. My right eye had seemed as if it had never been damaged at all. I was lying on a cold metal floor in a blank, featureless room. I looked down at my feet, seeing that they had been tied together at the ankles. Whatever had happened to me, someone was determined to make sure I wasn't going to escape. I started trying to break through the ropes binding my arms and legs in an attempt to break out of my prison. For about five minutes I struggled to remove the bindings, only succeeding in causing myself great pain. I lay there on the ground, out of breath at my exertions. This didn't make any sense. I was a Spartan. Even out of my armour, I should have been able to escape from my bonds easily. How had I become so weak? Just then, I saw the door to my cell open. The sudden bright light blinded me for a few moments, but not before I saw a figure standing in the doorway. I couldn't make out any of the person's features, other than the fact that I was looking at a human. "What's going on?" the figure asked, in a deep, gravelly voice, as if the person had suffered a wound to the throat at some point. The deep voice let me know that it was a man. "He shouldn't be awake." The next thing I knew, the man was right next to me, his fist drawn back in preparation for a punch. It was as if he had simply teleported the short distance from the door to me. Then his fist flew forward and smashed into my face. My head jerked backwards, smashing against the floor I was lying on. Everything went black again.**

I wasn't sure how long I had been unconscious for, but once I came round, the first thing I heard was a slow, steady beeping noise. Heart monitor. _Again._ Twice now I had been knocked unconscious and twice now I woke to the sound of a heart monitor. There was a patch covering my right eye. Probably for the best. I wouldn't be wise to have a wound like that out in the open. I don't know if I should consider myself lucky that I kept surviving things that would kill others several times over, or unlucky that I kept getting into these situations in the first place. I decided that it was probably a bit of both. I didn't exactly have enough time to think about it though, as the door to my small hospital room opened. I was genuinely surprised to see that it was Doctor Halsey coming to see me. I must have been out a really long time if we had got back to UNSC space. She was looking at a datapad, staring intensely at whatever was on it. She walked right up next to my bed before looking up, almost dropping the datapad in surprise when she saw that I was awake.

"You're awake!" she exclaimed. "We didn't expect you to recover for another few weeks. How are you feeling?"

That brought back the pain I had forgotten about. I had a sudden pain in my right eye, or where it had once been at any rate. There was also a dull pain in the stump that was once my left arm. "Not good," I growled. "What happened?" I asked her. Whatever happened, I was determined to be back on my feet and fighting Covenant as soon as possible.

"You got into a fight with that enormous Elite and almost died. _That's_ 'What happened'," Halsey said, sounding angry that I had even considered doing such a thing. But almost immediately, her tone changed. "You did it, though. You brought Red Team back." I felt a surge of pride so large that I completely forgot about the pain in my arm and head. I beat the all of my expectations. Admittedly, I didn't expect to come so close to death and end up unconscious all the way back to UNSC space, but I changed fate. Kevin-1, Destiny-0. But then Halsey's expression turned to one of sadness. "Well, mostly," she added.

"Mostly?" I echoed. "What do you mean by 'mostly'?"

"There was a problem with the slipspace drive and it wouldn't be able to be detonated remotely. Jerome stayed behind to set it off."

And immediately that surge of pride I had felt was gone. I had hoped that I would be able to save all of Red Team. The fact that I had only saved two other Spartans made the victory on that Forerunner Shield World bittersweet. Halsey had clearly noticed my change in mood, and put a hand on my shoulder to comfort me. "You don't have to feel so bad about it," she told me. "You saved Douglas and Alice. That has to mean something, right?"

I let out a long sigh. "I suppose you're right," I said.

Doctor Halsey removed her hand and turned to leave. "I should leave you to get some rest. Now that you're awake, we can prepare to give you your prosthetics." Halsey moved to leave the room, before turning back to me. "One more thing," she said. "Ackerson wants to talk with you as soon as possible."

That was surprising. Ackerson was known for being extremely vocal in his criticisms of the SPARTAN-II Program. "Why would he want to speak with me?" I asked.

Halsey shrugged her shoulders. "No idea. But if you don't want to speak with him, I'll just refuse to let him see you. I can do that as head of the Program."

I shook my head. "No, I'll see him. We are on the same side here. It would be better not to piss off someone who could hold my life in their hands one day."

"Well, if you change your mind, let me know," Halsey said, before turning and leaving the room.

Like Halsey had advised me to do, I tried to get some rest, but the dream I'd had kept running through my head. What did it mean? I knew that I shouldn't dwell on it too much, but something about it seemed strange. That man in the dream seemed familiar, even though I had no idea if I had ever seen him before in my life. Not that I'd know if I'd seen him, as his face had been covered in shadows in the dream. But the voice was similar to something I'd heard before.

I just couldn't think of where I'd heard it.

**What does that interlude mean? Well, I already know, you'll all just have to wait to find out. Problem?**


	18. Propositions

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 17

Propositions

**AN: Decided to move any review responses to the start of the chapter from now on.**

**Rain Shigu: If you have any ideas for what's going to happen, you can message me about them. Who knows, if you give a good suggestion, I might put it in the story.**

**Experimental Agent 1123: Sorry if I'm disappointing you, but Master Chief will have a very limited part in this story. I won't say any more about that in case I accidentally spoil anything.**

**Liege Lord: Ackerson's going to have even less of a role than Master Chief.**

It was a few days after I had first woken up when I finally decided to find out what Ackerson wanted to see me about. I wasn't sure what he wanted, but I hoped he would realise that I wouldn't come whenever he told me to. There was only one person I truly answered to; Doctor Halsey. If she had told me not to see Ackerson, I would have refused right to his face. If she told me to go see him, I would have went. But she'd placed the decision in my hands, and I had chose to go see him. Depending on what he wanted, I could just say no anyway. As part of the SPARTAN-II Program, he had no control over me.

I'd also gotten my prosthetics by that time. I now had a cybernetic replacement for my right eye. The whole thing looked quite menacing. All the better to use for intimidation. It wasn't like I would be taking my helmet off during battle, but I could depolarize the visor, so others could see my face. I was actually excited to see what a Grunt's response would be. The only problem would be getting close to it for it to see the robotic eye. I'd deal with that when the situation arose, if it ever did. As for my left arm, it was now robotic. Similar to Kat's, but only from the elbow down. I'd been given the choice of having my eye and arm replaced with flash-cloned organic pieces, but I decided against it. Someone stabbing my left arm wouldn't stop me now, as I wouldn't be able to feel any pain from the elbow down. Combined with the numerous scars I would accumulate by the end of the war (if I survived that long) and I would be one intimidating motherfucker.

Anyway, I now found myself in a secure communications room. It was in near the start of June 2531. Yes, I'd been in a coma for about three months. Sue me. If I were a normal human, I would have died. The way I saw it, I'd gotten off extremely lucky. For whatever reason, Ackerson had been waiting for months to speak with me. I had a feeling that it was something to do with the SPARTAN-III Program that was due to start by the end of this year. But that was just a suspicion. I had no evidence that pointed towards any reason he could have for speaking with me. It was worrying. What if Ackerson had found out that I never existed in this universe before 2525? What would he do about that?

I didn't have any time to think about the consequences of that, as the video screen in front of me jumped into life. On screen was the man himself. Colonel James Ackerson, head of the SPARTAN-III Program and complete dickhead. I felt a brief smile on my face as Ackerson jerked his head backwards in surprise at my new eye. He quickly recomposed himself.

"You look like shit," he said. "This is what we get for sending freaks to do a real humans job."

Charming. "I went up against a high ranking Elite in hand to hand combat." Not exactly accurate, as I had used an energy sword, but he didn't need to know that. "If one of your _'real humans' _had been in my position, they would have been dead in seconds. That's not me bragging about a Spartan's skill, that's fact."

"Watch what you say, freak. I-"

"-have no control over me," I interrupted. "I don't answer to you, so cut the bullshit and tell me what you want, or I'm leaving." Ackerson scowled at my display of insolence, but said nothing. He needed me for something, and I knew it. It was in his best interests not to piss me off.

"Fine," he said. "I need you for a job." Straight to the point. I liked it when people did that instead of fucking about with small talk.

"What job?" I asked. I didn't have time to spend chatting with Ackerson. I still had to get used to my new arm and eye. "And before you ask, I won't do anything that brings harm to Halsey or the other Spartans. So if that's what you want, you can fuck off."

"It's nothing too difficult, but only something a Spartan could handle."

"I need details," I snapped. "Time taken, what the job involves."

Ackerson got a somewhat sadistic smile on his face. "It's quite simple," he said, leaning forward in his seat. "I want you to train _my_ SPARTAN-IIIs"

I laughed. "Why would you even think I would do that?" I asked. This was ridiculous. Training the SPARTAN-IIIs would be indirectly harming Halsey, as I would be helping her rival. And he seriously thought I would help him?

Ackerson hadn't responded to my burst of laughter, "Because I know about you," he said calmly. My laughter trailed off. I'm stunned into silence by this sudden revelation. Ackerson knows. He knows that I never existed in the UNSC before 2525. My throat has suddenly gone dry. It's hard to speak. Eventually, I manage to croak out a single word. "How?" I ask him. I don't really expect to get a satisfactory answer, but it doesn't hurt to ask. That sadistic smile is still on Ackerson's face.

"Oh, Halsey covered her tracks well, but she's not the only one with contacts. I don't know where you came from, only that you suddenly appeared on a satellite above Reach in 2525. And that's enough to have ONI arrest you, and maybe Halsey and the rest of her freaks, on suspicion of being loyal to the Insurrection." I was torn between feeling relieved and frightened. On one hand, Ackerson didn't know the whole story. But on the other hand, he held my fate in his hands. If he revealed what he knew, then, at best, everyone involved with the SPARTAN-II Program would be forced to go on the run.

"But I'm not unreasonable," he said. "I'm willing to keep this information to myself, if you train my Spartans for me. I'll give you a week to decide." With that, the video link between us shut off and I was left alone in a dark room.

I sat there for a few minutes, thinking about what had just happened. Ackerson's threat was certainly to be taken seriously. If I trained the SPARTAN-IIIs, I would essentially be betraying Halsey by working with her rival. But my secret would be kept hidden if I helped him. Ackerson's a bastard, but if he makes a deal, he sticks to his end of it. Although, Ackerson would have his threat hanging over my head for the rest of my life. Or his. And I wouldn't put it past him to reveal my secret before he died.

There was only one person who could help me make a decision like this. I left the room and hurried towards Doctor Halsey's office. The moment I opened the door to her office, she looked up at me from whatever it was she was working on.

"Back from your talk with Ackerson? How'd it go?" she asked. Then she saw the look on my face. "What happened?" So I told her everything. What he wanted me to do and what he'd threatened to do if I refused. As soon as I had finished, she leaned back in her chair and sighed. "That is a big problem."

"Really?" I asked sarcastically, "I hadn't guessed that. Now that we know its a problem, everything's so much easier, isn't it?" Halsey just stared at me. I might have overdone the sarcasm, but my point still stands. Ackerson's going to be trouble. A few seconds later she got up and started pacing behind her desk. "What the fuck are you doing?" I asked her. I needed her to help me with Ackerson, not walk around her desk all day.

She turned to look at me, annoyed for some reason. "Be quiet," she said, in a tone that left no room for argument. I argued anyway.

"Doctor, I need-"

"Be. Quiet," she said again. "I'm trying to think of something." She sighed. "I know it'll be hard, but just try to get some rest. I might have a way out of this." With that, she pointed towards the door. There wasn't anything left for me to say, so I turned and left. On my way back to my quarters, I kept thinking about my conversation with Ackerson. About what he said and threatened to do. I felt the urge to just get up, run away and hide for the rest of the war. But that wouldn't help anything.

Suddenly, a thought jumped into my head. It was only there for a second, but I had the feeling that I was onto something. I just needed to think things through and discuss it with Halsey.

I just hoped that whatever plan we came up with would work.

**A little shorter that I hoped it would be, but on the bright side I might be back to a regular update schedule.**


	19. Plans

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 18

Plans

**bob's joy: I find that authors who make their characters perfect write boring stories. Nice to see that you don't see my story that way.**

June 2531

UNSC_ Spirit of Fire_

I've spent the last day thinking about the plan. Thinking that it only came from a couple of words is the strangest thing. I think I've ironed out any wrinkles, and if it works, then things could go a whole lot better than the events of the games. But on the other hand, I'd be deviating from canon. Massively. If I start down this path, then there'll be no turning back. Once the plan begins, then it's all or nothing. Either humanity survives the war, or we go out in a blaze of glory. A heroic last stand against impossible odds. And that's assuming the plan even gets started in the first place. Starting this plan would require help of others in the UNSC, others who could easily rat us out, stopping us before we began. I've ironed out any wrinkles, but I'll need Halsey's approval.

I did a double take the moment I stepped into Halsey's office. I say her asleep at her desk. That was nothing like her. She must have spent the whole night awake, trying to think of a way out of the mess that we were in. I walked over to her desk and gave a loud knock right beside her head. Her head shot up, looking around in surprise at her rude awakening.

"Oh, it's you," she said. "How're you holding up?"

I shrugged. "I've been better. I'd be more worried about you. Can't have been comfortable sleeping at your desk like that."

She gave a small chuckle. "Can't say it was." Her face fell, obviously remembering why she had fallen asleep there in the first place. "Not any closer to finding a solution yet."

"Well," I said, "I might know how we could get out of this. But I have to say, it's... unusual."

Despite this warning, Halsey was immediately awake and paying attention. "Tell me," she said. So I did. Once I had finished, she just stared at me. Ten seconds passed. Thirty seconds. A minute. Then she said one thing. "You're mad."

I frowned. "That's not the response I expected."

She sighed. "Let me clarify. There's thinking outside the box, and then there's completely batshit insane. Guess which one this plan is."

"I'm assuming you have a better idea, right?" I asked. Halsey opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. For a few seconds, she was deep in thought. Then she sighed again.

"No," she answered. "No I don't have any ideas."

"Then I don't see any other choice, other than agreeing with Ackerson's demands."

Anger flared in Halsey's eyes. "That will not happen," she snapped. "Get started on your part of the plan. I'll work on my end."

With that, I turned and walked out of the office. She'd agreed to the plan. Admittedly, I had to make a subtle mention of giving in to Ackerson. That wasn't something I would have liked to do. It could cause Halsey to become distracted on her end of the plan, and that was something that I should not have risked happening.

_'Too late to worry about that now,' _I thought as I made my way to the secure communications room. I had my part of the plan to complete.

The communications technician was reading a magazine when I walked in. I didn't get a good look at it, but judging by the speed he put it away with, he shouldn't have been reading it on the job. He snapped off a quick salute, his face slightly red at being caught.

"Sir!" he practically shouted. "What can I do for you?"

"Set up a com link with Colonel Ackerson," I ordered. "Now."

The technician stumbled to his feet. The fool probably thought that being eager to help me would make me forget about the magazine. Filthy bastard.

He headed into the comm room, quickly setting up the link with Ackerson. I kept a close eye on the technician as he worked, not entirely trusting him not to fuck something up. Thankfully, he didn't. Once he had finished, he turned to me and snapped off another salute, before turning and moving to leave the room. I stopped him before he got too far.

"What's your name, soldier?" I asked.

"Er... Williams, sir," he answered nervously.

I stared into his eyes. "Not all officers are as forgiving as me. Remember that when you're on duty."

"I- I will, sir," he said nervously. He rushed out of the room before anything else could be said. I looked back at the door as it was practically slammed shut. I might have been a bit hard on him, but then I shook off those sorts of thoughts. I didn't need to have him on my mind. I needed to focus for this discussion with Ackerson.

I spent about ten minutes just sitting there, mentally preparing myself for the conversation that I would be having with Ackerson. I would have to hide my motivations while talking with him. Thankfully, I'd always had a good poker face. Back before I'd found myself in this mess, I'd rarely shown any form of emotion. I'd only ever done that after about half an hour around family and close friends. Ackerson was neither of these. Eventually, the screen activated, and for the second time in 24 hours, I was facing Ackerson. He had a smug grin on his face. "Got something you want to say to me, _freak_?"

I didn't react to the insult. Instead, in a soft voice, I whispered. "You win."

Ackerson's grin grew even further. "What was that?" he asked innocently. "I didn't quite hear you."

"You win," I repeated, this time a little louder. I'd made myself sound regretful too. "I'll train your Spartans."

The Colonel chuckled. "I knew you'd see it-"

"On one condition," I interrupted.

Immediately, the smile dropped from his face. "I'm in a good mood right now," he said, "so I'm willing to listen to your request."

"You don't interfere with how I train them. You can observe, but I have the final say in the methods. Got that?"

The smile reappeared on his face. He clearly thought I'd be asking for more. "That sounds perfectly reasonable," he said. "Be at the training grounds by December, or the information goes public. _Got that?_" he sneered. I didn't respond to his attempt to provoke me.

"Yes, sir," I said. Ackerson let out a short laugh, before cutting the connection. Once he had, an enormous smile grew on my face, larger than the one Ackerson had. He'd fallen for it, hook, line and sinker. That was good news. And even if the plan didn't get started properly, then at least I would have an enormous influence over the SPARTAN-IIIs.

I quickly made my way back to Halsey's office, to report on my success. The smile had gone from my face, but that didn't change how I felt about the conversation. Ackerson wasn't going to see anything coming.

I entered Halsey's office only to find that she was using her own private computer to have a discussion with our potential ally. I stood to the side, choosing not to interrupt her conversation. I wasn't able to hear all of it, both because of being away talking with Ackerson for it and a desire to give Halsey some level of privacy. I owed her that much.

Soon her conversation ended and she was able to talk to me. "How'd Ackerson react?" she asked me.

I smiled as I remembered the talk I'd had with him. "He fell for it. Hook, line and sinker. What about your end?"

Halsey gave a small smile. "He's on board. All we need is that object you mentioned, and we'll have all we need."

My smile grew even further. Things were going even better that I expected. Ackerson had been fooled into giving me great influence over the SPARTAN-IIIs and it had taken Halsey less than an hour to persuade our new ally to help us.

All we needed was the object, and we'd be well on our way to ending our problems.

**Once again, a bit shorter than I hoped it would be. But, on the bright side, the next chapter is about half done, so it should be up in the next few days.**


	20. Infiltration

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 19

Infiltration

**AN: If you're surprised at this being a bit later than my 'next few days' promise, then you haven't been following me for long enough. Blame me not being able to write a stealth scene.**

**justgreat1215: I'm pretty sure that epic is too strong a word to describe my writing. But it's nice to know people think so highly of the story.**

August 2531

It had been a few months since I explained the plan to Halsey. We had our ally, Ackerson had been deceived (very easily, I might add) and now I found myself on a remote colony world, ready to pick up the object. Actually, I didn't need to take the object itself, only make a few scans of it. The small handheld computer Halsey had given me held the necessary programs. I looked down at the device I held, still amused at the similarity between it and an iPhone from before my life was turned upside down. Obviously, it was far more advanced than anything that I had ever known back in my own life. 500 years of technological advancement tends to do that. For example, an iPhone back home could hold (as far as I remembered) up to 64GB of data. The computer in my hand could hold 64_TB_. And this was a cheap model I had.

Just then, I remembered why I was here. I turned to face the building that the object was in. It was an large museum in the capital city of the colony. Night had fallen long ago. There was going to be almost no-one there. As a Spartan, I could have used my status to force the staff to allow me access to what I wanted to see. But that would have made it easier for ONI to find out what I was up to. We'd gone farther than I expected. I wasn't going to throw it all away with a display of arrogance.

My eyes flicked to my prosthetic left arm. I'd had some skin grafted onto it to make it seem more realistic. I couldn't risk having myself be recognised. Seriously. I could slip up and have a security guard see me. And it wouldn't take long for 'the large man with a prosthetic arm' who infiltrated the museum to be linked to me. Hell, with ONI's resources, it was practically guaranteed that I would be found out eventually. All I hoped for was that it would take them until the plan was in full swing to figure things out.

My hand slipped down to the tranquilliser gun that I had holstered at my waist. It would have been best if I didn't need to use it, but I wasn't leaving anything to chance. I needed to get in, get the data I needed and get out. Preferably without being seen.

Ten minutes later, I had made my way into the museum and reached my target. At first glance, it was just a small lump of rock from space. A meteor to be precise. It had landed on the planet thousands of years ago, and was placed in the museum when the planet was colonised by humanity. But that wasn't the important part. The rock I was standing before held the key to my plan. Without the information I could get from it, my plan would fall apart.

I quickly grabbed my computer pad and activated the scanning program that Halsey had loaded onto it. I pointed it at the meteor and began the scanning procedure. I stood there for about five minutes, waiting for the results to be gathered. Then, suddenly there was a loud 'ping' noise coming from the computer.

Fuck. I'd forgotten to set the computer to mute. That was embarrassing enough without what happened next. The noise had attracted the attention of one of the museum's guards. I quickly stuffed the computer into my pocket and moved back into the shadows. As the guard moved towards where he thought he had heard the sound. I had my tranquilliser gun out, ready to fire at the guard if he noticed me. If I was lucky, he'd just put the thing off to being jumpy.

I wasn't.

The guard swung his torch around the room, and he just happened to swing it into my face. I was blinded temporarily, accidentally firing my gun. The shot went wide. While I recovered from the sudden burst of light, the guard turned on his radio and called for backup. I got another shot off, this one hitting him, before he could give his location. But the result was still the same. The security of the museum knew I was here, and they would be looking for me.

I won't lie, it wasn't easy for me to get out undetected. I'd never been too good at being stealthy. I never played too many stealth oriented games in my old life. I'd always preferred the 'head in all guns blazing' approach to sneaking around. But these were real people that were working here. They had families, friends, likes and dislikes. I didn't want to kill anyone unless I had too. You might consider me to be hypocritical for thinking like that and going out and killing hundreds of the Covenant on the battlefield, but there it was them or me. Here, I had the chance to avoid causing death.

I came close to being caught by the guards a few times. Thankfully, none of them were able to get a good look at me before they were knocked out. I took it slower than when I went into the museum and was there for about half an hour before I got out of the building. And not a moment too soon either. The second I got out of the place, I could see police vehicles heading towards the museum. I quickly made my way through the streets of the colony's capital, managing to avoid attracting any attention. I walked the streets for almost an hour, getting a few miles within the outskirts of the city before I activated the comm unit I had been given for this mission.

"Package has been retrieved," I whispered, being careful not to be overheard by anyone. "Requesting pick-up." I waited ten seconds before I got my reply.

"Understood. ETA to LZ is five minutes."

I slipped the comm unit back into my pocket and started to jog towards the agreed pick-up zone. Five minutes later, I had reached the LZ. I was about a mile outside the city waiting for my pick-up to arrive. About a minute later, a Pelican came in to land in the field I stood in. I quickly ran to the ship and jumped in. Somehow, I wasn't surprised to see the pilot was the same one who had helped me out so many times back on the Flood controlled Shield World. She looked back at me and laughed. "We have to stop meeting like this," she joked. I let out a short laugh, before settling into the troop transport bay for the long journey.

* * *

><p>Three days later, I was sitting in Doctor Halsey's office. She smiled as I handed over the computer that held the data I had gotten from the colony.<p>

"You weren't seen getting this, were you?" she asked.

"A guard caught a glimpse of me," I answered honestly, "but he didn't get a good look at me. We'll be safe."

Halsey had tensed up when she heard that I had been seen, but relaxed when I told her that we wouldn't be caught yet. "You should have been more careful," she said disapprovingly. "That glimpse could be enough to make this whole plan fall apart."

"I was standing in the shadows," I reassured her. "All he could tell anyone is that he say a large man. I doubt ONI could get anything else."

Halsey sighed and leaned back in her seat, holding the datapad I had given her. "I hope you're right."

"The data's encrypted. How long will it take to access it?" I asked, keen to get the conversation away from my (hopefully) minor fuck-up.

"I won't be able to use an AI to decrypt it, and I can't set any of my other projects aside," she said. "That means I'll need to do it in my spare time." She quickly accessed the file I had taken and grimaced. "The encryptions pretty strong too, so if I had to guess a timeframe, one year. Earliest."

"Not quite what I was hoping for, but it gives me time to work on the S-IIIs, I'll get started right away," I said. Then I turned and left her office.

I quickly made my way to the nearest hangar bay to get to the S-III training grounds. Every second I spent here would be a second less I could use making the S-IIIs listen to me, make them think the same way I did. Obviously I wouldn't be able to explain the whole plan to them, or even that I had a plan in the first place. I couldn't risk Ackerson learning about the plan. All of it hinged on him being caught off guard. But I needed them to favour me over Ackerson.

I just needed to know how to do that.

**Look through these last few chapters for hints to the details of the plan. 100 cookies* will be given to whoever has the closest guess.**

**Have a gleeful over-commercialised holiday period and a pleasant new rotatory period around the closest star.**

***No cookies really will be given out.**


	21. SPARTAN Camp

Stranger In Their World

Chapter 20

SPARTAN Camp

**AN: I'd say that at over two months, this has been the longest time I've gone without an update. Sorry about that. This really should have been out near the start of January, but some exams, having to complete a number of pieces of coursework and a minor case of writer's block meant that I wasn't able to write this chapter. I'd expect a similar time scale for the next update, so now I've set up a Tumblr account. Check it out if you're looking for updates on how the next chapter's going or to ask questions about the story. Link in profile.**

27th December 2531

I sat in the back of the Pelican, watching the scenery go by. I was being taken to the Spartan-III training grounds on Reach. Really, they were just the expanded and re-purposed Spartan-II training grounds, but officially, they were now the property of Ackerson for the Spartan-III Program. I didn't care what it was called now anyway. If everything went according to plan, I wouldn't be here for too long. I really hoped Halsey was accurate in her guess for how long the decryption would take. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to fake working with Ackerson for too long.

Somehow, it was only now that the implications of my plan would be. If it worked, then the storylines that I had been depending on so far would be worthless. But I'd also have a chance to end the war years early. And if it failed, then humanity would be, to put it simply, fucked. This plan's success would mean that there would be no major upgrades for MJOLNIR, which would be bad news for the rest of the SPARTAN-IIs. It would be both impossible and risky to bring all the S-IIs in on this plan. So I knew that I was basically on my own. Just me, Dr. Halsey and whatever allies she could get to help her.

Soon enough, the Pelican moved in to land in a large hanger that looked over the large training grounds. My vague memories of the area from the brief time I'd spent there after I'd arrived were now almost completely useless. Barracks had sprang up all over the place to house the hundreds of candidates for the program. There was a large, one story building in the centre of the valley, presumably the mess hall. Scattered across the landscape were numerous other buildings, which I could only guess the purposes of.

As the Pelican settled into the hangar, I stood up and grasped the handle of the small bag that held my few essentials. It wasn't too much, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, a few changes of clothes. Fully loaded M6D pistol. As I was in my MJOLNIR armour, I could have easily had it attached to my leg armour. But this way, it would seem as if I was submitting to Ackerson. All the better for when my plan comes to fruition.

Speaking of Ackerson, I could see him sitting in a Warthog just a few metres away from the hanger. He waved at me, a stupid grin on his face. He was enjoying this. He probably thought I was humiliated. If that was the case, then I'd prove him wrong. Eventually.

"Welcome to the SPARTAN-III training camp!" he said with his dumb grin on his face.

I glared at him, my irritation plainly visible to him. "We both know I'm not here because I chose to come," I snapped. "Just let me get started and fuck off."

That didn't wipe the smile off his face. "Remember who knows what here," he said, reminding me why I had agreed to this job in the first place. "Get in, let me show you around." I didn't answer that, instead just walking to the passenger side of the Warthog and climbing in.

The resulting tour took about an hour, mainly because Ackerson insisted on showing me every single building in the camp. Every. Single. Building. Everything from the storage buildings to the medical centre. If I'd started the tour annoyed at Ackerson, I ended it wanting to kill him. I _really_ don't like it when my time is wasted, and this extensive tour was the biggest waste of my time ever.

Eventually, the Warthog slowed to a halt outside the largest building in the camp. "And we're here!" Ackerson said. "The candidates are waiting for you inside. Say a few words to them, and then we'll start the training tomorrow." At this, he drove off, leaving me standing outside. I sighed, and walked into the building.

* * *

><p>I stood in front of hundreds of children, all of them potential candidates for the SPARTAN-III Program. 418 children, to be exact. They came from a wide variety of worlds, had a wide array of characteristics. But they all had one thing in common. They had all lost their families to the Covenant. Each one of them had expressed a desire for revenge against those who had taken their loved ones from them. And this program was going to give them the chance to get that revenge. Or most of them anyway. Despite the fact that humanity was being threatened with extinction at the hands of the Covenant, bureaucracy reigned supreme. We'd need all the Spartans we could get, but ONI's accountants would only provide enough money to pay for the training of 300. 'It was all about the symbolism' they'd said, but the existence of the S-IIIs would never be revealed to the public. Probably. I planed to screw with canon so badly, that ONI might need to reveal both the S-IIs and the S-IIIs to keep humanity's morale up. It didn't really make much of a difference to me. If things went as planned, then the war would end much earlier. If things didn't go as planned, well, we're probably fucked. Hard. In the rear. With no lube. What I'm trying to say is that things would go horribly, horribly wrong.<p>

I was standing here to give a brief speech to the candidates the day before their traning began. Thankfully, I'd been told about this before I arrived, so I had a few things planned. And I planned to start the speech with a bang.

"You are all pathetic." Insulting children. I had sunk low. "But soon, you will not be." I began to pace back and forth in front of them. "You have all been chosen as possible candidates for this program. But not all of you will make it. 418 of you are standing in front of me. Only 300 of you will get the chance to be like me. Only 300 of you will become Spartans." I paused to let that sink in. Most likely, none of them even knew what a Spartan was. But if it was the chance to become like me, then they would probably be ecstatic at the thought. "I won't lie to you," I continued. "This will be hard. I will find your physical limits and push you far past them. Only the very best of you will be worthy of the title of Spartan." I stopped pacing, turning to face them all. "You have one year to prove yourselves to me. At the end of that year, we will know who will be called Spartans, and who will be nothing. Training will start tomorrow." I turned my back to them and prepared to leave them. "Dismissed." I said coldly, and left the room.

**I had intended to have a bit more in this chapter, but I figured that you'd waited long enough. I might add more to this chapter in the future, so keep an eye out for that.**

**One last thing. If you're paying attention, you'll have noticed that I recently removed the secondary genre, romance. Stranger In Their World will now be an Adventure/Sci-fi fic. I've had some time to think about where I want to go with this story, and I just can't figure out where the romance would fit in without it looking like it's just been shoved in there for the hell of it. I might add it back in later if I find a solution to this, but for now, its not happening.**


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